Caries preventive services for children and adolescents in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden: strategies and resource allocation

Abstract

According to the dental acts of Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, emphasis is placed on preventive dental care. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare two aspects of the caries preventive services: the strategies and the resource allocation for preventive dental care of children and adolescents in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Questionnaires were sent to samples of dentists and other dental personnel who provided preventive care to children during 1995 and 1996. Comparisons between the countries showed significant differences in recall routines and in implementation of risk-based and population-based preventive strategies. Multivariate analyses showed that the time used for preventive care varied by country and was not associated with the DMFT of the children. More time was allocated for prevention when more operating dental auxiliaries were available at the clinic, when the recall interval was shorter, when the time used for routine examination was longer and when the clinician was an auxiliary rather than a dentist. In conclusion, resource allocation and strategies used for prevention were not consistent between the countries.

Influence of Different Variables on the Inter-Municipality Variation in Caries Experience in Danish Adolescents

“…It is important to emphasize, which is in accordance with the authors' opinion, that Sigmund did not find that these two variables to any extent mirrored the preventive effort made in the individual municipalities. This statement is further supported by Wang et al [1998] as they could not find a clear association between auxiliary personnel/dentist ratio and the length of time used for preventive care towards children in the Scandinavian countries.…”

Outcomes of a Non-Operative Caries Treatment Programme for Children and Adolescents

“…Sixty percent of the total treatment time was related to the NOCTP, which corresponds to 24 min per year. This does not differ greatly from the average time spent on prevention in other dental services in Denmark, which Wang et al [1998] estimated at 21 min.…”

“…The reason for including a number of comparison municipalities was that the preventive programmes used varied slightly between the municipalities [Wang et al, 1998], and also between the 4 selected comparison municipalities ( table 2 ). In that way, a number of different programmes were covered.…”

“…Each PDHSC has to provide oral care for children and this must include individual preventive measures, including guidance for each child and their parents, instruction to each child in oral health care and regular clinical examinations [Friis-Hasché, 1994] and all PDHSCs comply with this obligation [Wang et al, 1998]. …”

Dental health status and development trends among children and adolescents in Greenland

“…This evolution in the panorama of disease has been documented primarily among the child population, where evidence has shown that a growing number of children and adolescents are caries-free, and that the caries experience has systematically declined over time (1). This improved dental health is clearly demonstrated in the Nordic countries, and coincides with the development of preventive public oral health care programmes (2,3). On the basis of information from the Recording System for the Danish Municipal Dental Health Services (SCOR), it can be ascertained that this improvement in dental health among children and adolescents in Denmark was most remarkable at the end of the 1970s and through the 1980s (4), in pace with the establishment of population-oriented preventive programmes.…”