Abstract
Aim To investigate the caries status of, and the delivery of care to, a group of regularly attending adolescent dental patients. To conduct research in primary dental care. A subsidiary aim was to compare the caries status of this sample to population samples.
Setting General dental practices across Scotland.
Design A 3-year cohort study.
Subjects 41 volunteer general dental practitioners and 616 adolescent patients (mean age = 12.1 years at baseline) defined by the practitioners as 'regular' attenders.
Results All practices remained in the study. 403 subjects were seen at both baseline and final examination and 329 were examined at all 4 annual examinations. The mean D3MFT (dentine caries threshold) was 1.8 at baseline and 3.9 at the final examination, three years later. Of the 541 subjects seen at baseline 62% had experienced either restored or unrestored dentinal caries. Thirty-four percent of all those examined at baseline had all the unrestored dentinal caries. The majority of the disease was to be found in the molar teeth, particularly the first permanent molars. The provision of sealants was relatively high with 85% of subjects having at least one sealed tooth by the final examination. Although disease levels were related to socio-economic status, the Care Index was not.
Conclusions The 'regularly attending' subjects had a better normative level of dental health than their peers in the Scottish population. However, wide variation was found. The project also demonstrated the feasibility of undertaking research in partnership with general dental practitioners.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the dentists, their teams and patients who played an invaluable role in this study. We would also like to thank all the other individuals and organisations who assisted with the project, particularly the staff and pupils of Perth High School. We would like to acknowledge funding from the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Office Department of Health who does not necessarily share the views expressed in this paper.
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Deery, C., Fyffe, H., Nuttall, N. et al. The dental caries status of Scottish adolescents reported to be regular attenders. Initial results from a primary dental care based research network. Br Dent J 187, 95–100 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4800212
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4800212
