”Tandbørstning og Fluoridbehandling: En intervention i Vollsmoses børnehaver”.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a one-year intervention programme with toothbrushing and fluoride treatment at daycare centres in Vollsmose, Odense.

The results for the development between pre-test and post-test show that on average both the children in the intervention group and the children in the control group developed almost two new carious lesions during the period of the study. When carious lesions, which have not led to enamel fracture, are filtered out, the figures show that among the children in the intervention group one new carious lesion was observed on average during the study period, whereas the children in the control group developed almost 1½ new carious lesions on average. In addition, more children in the intervention group became free of tooth decay (caries) than in the control group.

The study design has a quasi-experimental approach with pre-test and post-test. The background for this study is that children at kindergartens in the Vollsmose neighbourhood outside Odense have up to five times as much tooth decay in their milk teeth as children in the rest of Odense. Furthermore, the children are characterised by having extremely rapid tooth-decay progression. A total of 525 children from Vollsmose took part in the study. The children were divided into an intervention group (323 children) and a control group (202 children). The children came from 10 of the 12 local daycare centres, six of which made up the intervention group, and four the control group. All children with previously diagnosed carious lesions received fluoride treatment on the actual day of examination. Moreover, the children in the intervention group with previous carious lesion received fluoride treatment on all tooth surfaces every three months. The children in the intervention group all had their teeth brushed every day at the daycare centre.

Jensen, H.N. & Klausen, B.S.J. (2011). ”Tandbørstning og Fluoridbehandling: En intervention i Vollsmoses børnehaver”. Odense: Odense Tandpleje.