Results of a two year dental health education program to reduce dental caries in young Aboriginal children in New South Wales,Australia

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a dental health education program, 'Smiles not Tears' in preventing Early Childhood Caries in young Aboriginal children. Basic research design: Community trial. Clinical setting: Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in rural, remote and metropolitan areas in New South Wales, Australia. Participants: Aboriginal families who had a child six months of age. Interventions: Aboriginal Health Workers from eight Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in rural, remote and metropolitan areas in New South Wales recruited Aboriginal families with young children to participate in the Smiles not Tears dental education program. A convenience sample of Aboriginal children from the same communities was recruited to form a historical control group. Main outcome measures: The caries prevalence at 30 months of age compared to children of a similar age in the control group. Results: More children in the test group were caries free (n =104; 97.2%) when compared to the historical control group (n = 54; 65.9%). Only three children in the test group had caries which is less than the control group (n = 29). Conclusion: These results suggest that the Smiles not Tears dental education program has a positive impact on reducing the caries prevalence in young Aboriginal children

Keywords

Children Dental caries Health promotion Indigenous Prevention

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012): Mothers’ and children’s health: child nutrition and breastfeeding. Retrieved February 18, 2018, from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@. nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter620Oct+2010

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2015a): Snack food. Retrieved Frbruary 18, 2018 from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4727.0.55.005∼2012-13∼Main%20Features∼Snack%20foods∼14

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2015b): Sugar products and dishes. Retrieved February 18, 2018 from http://www.abs.gov.au/aus-stats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.007∼2011-12∼Main%20Features∼Sugar%20products%20and%20 dishes∼726

Australian Dental Association. (2014): Policy Statement 2.2.1 – Community Oral Health Promotion: Fluoride Use (Including ADA Guidelines for the Use of Fluoride). https://www.ada. org.au/Dental-Professionals/Policies/National-Oral-Health/2-2-1-Fluoride-Use/ADAPolicies_2-2-1_FluorideUse_V1

Blinkhorn

Brown

Freeman

Humphris

Martin

Blinkhorn

(2012): Study protocol. A phase II clinical trial of a dental health education program delivered by aboriginal health workers to prevent early childhood caries. BMC Public Health 12, 681

Blinkhorn

Wallace

Smith

Blinkhorn

A.S.

(2014): Developing leaflets to give dental health advice to Aboriginal families with young children. International Dental Journal 64, 195-199.

Bratthall

(2000): Introducing the Significant Caries Index together with a proposal for a new global oral health goal for 12-year-olds. International Dental Journal 50, 378-384.

Centre for Oral Health Strategy NSW. (2009): The New South Wales Child Dental Health Survey 2007. www.health.nsw. gov.au/cohs.

Davies

G. M.

Boothman

N.J.

Duxbury

T., Davies, R. M. and Blinkhorn, A. S. (2008): An investigation of non-participation in health promotion interventions and its impact on population level outcome. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education 46, 107-112.

10.

Australian Government. (2015): Healthy mouths healthy lives Australia’s national oral health plan 2015-2024. http://www.coaghealthcouncil.gov.au/Portals/0/Australia%27s%20 National%20Oral%20Health%20Plan%202015-2024_up-loaded%20170216.pdf.

11.

Gwynne

McCowen

Cripps

Lincoln

Irving

Blinkhorn

(2017): A comparrison of two models of dental care for Aboriginal communities in New South Wales. Australian Dental Journal 62, 208-214.

12.

Harrison

R. L.

Veronneau

Leroux

(2012): Ef-fectiveness of maternal counseling in reducing caries in Cree children. Journal of Dental Research 91, 1032-1037.

13.

Jamieson

L.M.

Armfield

J.M.

Roberts-Thomson

K.M.

(2007): Oral health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, AIHW cat. no. DEN 167. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Dental Statistics and Research Series No. 35).

14.

Jamieson

L. M.

Parker

and

Richards, L. (2008): Using qualitative methodology to inform an Indigenous-owned oral health promotion initiative in Australia.. Health Promotion International 23, 52-59.

15.

Jamieson

L. M.

Steffens

Paradies

Y. C.

(2013): Associations between discrimination and dental visiting behaviours in an Aboriginal Australian birth cohort. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 37: 92-93.

16.

Parker

E. J.

Jamieson

L. M.

(2007): Oral health com-parisons between children attending an Aboriginal health service and a Government school dental service in a regional location. Rural and Remote Health 7, 265.

17.

Smith

Blinkhorn

Moir

Brown

Blinkhorn

(2015): An assessment of dental caries among young Aboriginal children in New South Wales, Australia: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 15, 1314.

18.

Smith

Blinkhorn

Moir

Brown

Blinkhorn

(2016): ‘Smiles not Tears’: a dental education program in New South Wales for young Aboriginal children. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Dental and Oral Health Therapy 1, 6-11.

19.

Smith

Blinkhorn

Moir

Brown

Blinkhorn

(2016): User assessment of an early childhood oral health educa-tion training course for Aboriginal Health Workers. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education 54, 172-183.

20.

St Leger, L. (2004): What’s the place of schools in promoting health? Are we too optimistic? Health Promotion International 19, 104-108.

21.

Waters

Gibbs

Tadic

Ukoumunne

C., Magarey, A., Okely, A. D., de Silva, A., Armit, C., Green, J., O’Connor, T., Johnson, B., Swinburn, B., Carpenter, L., Moore, G., Littlecott, H. and Gold, L. (2017): Cluster randomised trial of a school-community child health promotion and obesity prevention intervention: findings from the evaluation of fun ‘n healthy in Moreland! BMC Public Health 18, 92.