[Profile of public dental care for children and adolescents in São Luís, Maranhão State]

Cost-effectiveness of restorative treatments for permanent molars with severe molar incisor hypomineralization: perspectives for the Brazilian public health system

OBJECTIVES

To undertake a cost-effectiveness analysis of restorative treatments for a first permanent molar with severe molar incisor hypomineralization from the perspective of the Brazilian public system.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Two models were constructed: a one-year decision tree and a ten-year Markov model, each based on a hypothetical cohort of one thousand individuals through Monte Carlo simulation. Eight restorative strategies were evaluated: high viscosity glass ionomer cement (HVGIC); encapsulated GIC; etch and rinse adhesive + composite; self-etch adhesive + composite; preformed stainless steel crown; HVGIC + etch and rinse adhesive + composite; HVGIC + self-etch adhesive + composite, and encapsulated GIC + etch and rinse adhesive + composite. Effectiveness data were sourced from the literature. Micro-costing was applied using 2022 USD market averages with a 5% variation. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), net monetary benefit (%NMB), and the budgetary impact were obtained.

RESULTS

Cost-effective treatments included HVGIC (%NMB = 0%/ 0%), encapsulated GIC (%NMB = 19.4%/ 19.7%), and encapsulated GIC + etch and rinse adhesive + composite (%NMB = 23.4%/ 24.5%) at 1 year and 10 years, respectively. The benefit gain of encapsulated GIC + etch and rinse adhesive + composite in relation to encapsulated GIC was small when compared to the cost increase at 1 year (gain of 3.28% and increase of USD 24.26) and 10 years (gain of 4% and increase of USD 15.54).

CONCLUSION

Within the horizon and perspective analyzed, the most cost-effective treatment was encapsulated GIC restoration.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

This study can provide information for decision-making.

Socio-environmental determinants of the delay in the first dental visit: results of two population-based cohort studies in Brazil

The objective of this study was to describe the timing of the first dental visit and investigate the association of socioeconomic and behavioral factors with dental visit delay among 10/11-year-old children from two live-birth population cohorts with extremely contrasting socioeconomic profiles. Follow-up data (2004-2005) from cohorts of Ribeirão Preto (RP) (n=790) and São Luís (SL) (n=673) were evaluated. Delay in dental visit was defined as not visiting a dentist before the age of 7. Covariates included family socioeconomic characteristics, mother-related health behavior, and child-related characteristics. Prevalence ratios with robust standard errors were estimated. In both cohorts, less than 5% of children had visited a dentist before the age of two and about 35% of them had not visited a dentist before the age of seven. Lower mother’s schooling and lack of private health insurance were associated with the delay in first dental visit for both cohorts. A small number of mother's prenatal care visits and being from a single-father family or a family without parents were only associated in the RP cohort, while having ≥4 siblings and lifetime dental pain were associated in the SL cohort. The association with dental pain probably reveals a preventive care-seeking behavior. Therefore, the percentage of delayed first dental visit of children was very high even among those with the most educated mothers. Further studies are necessary to analyze recent changes and underlying factors related to access to first dental visit after the implementation of the National Oral Health Policy in 2006.

Overweight, obese, underweight, and frequency of sugar consumption as risk indicators for early childhood caries in Brazilian preschool children

BACKGROUND

A possible association between being overweight or obese and early childhood caries (ECC) remains controversial.

AIM

To investigated this association in a developing country testing the confounding effects of socioeconomic factors and frequency of sugar consumption.

METHODS

Historical cohort study, 388 children (aged 24-71 months) living in São Luís, Brazil. A theoretical model adjusted according to income, birthweight, and nutritional status at twelve months and frequency of sugar consumption was generated with directed acyclic graphs to analyze this association. Caries were considered a discrete variable in the Poisson regression models; incidence density ratios (IRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were estimated.

RESULTS

Being overweight or obese (IR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.03-2.22) was independently associated with ECC. Being thin or very thin (IR = 1.97; 95% CI: 1.52-2.54), a high frequency of sugar consumption (IR = 1.83; 95% CI: 1.42-2.38), and age (IR = 3.62; 95% CI: 2.58-5.08) were associated with ECC.

CONCLUSIONS

Children overweight or obese, as well as children exhibiting being thin/very thin, were associated with ECC independent of socioeconomic variables and a high frequency of sugar consumption.

Dental care provided to sickle cell anemia patients stratified by age: A population-based study in Northeastern Brazil

Objective:

To assess differences in the dental care provided to sickle cell anemia (SCA) patients depending on age. This retrospective study used secondary data from the dental records of the Center of Hematology and Hemotherapy in Maranhão (HEMOMAR).

Materials and Methods:

Data were obtained from 574 dental records of patients with SCA treated or under treatment in the Dental Department of HEMOMAR from 2000 to 2011. Data on the gender, age, duration of dental treatment, number of patients submitted to periodontal treatment (PT), number of filled teeth (FT), teeth extracted (EX), endodontically treated teeth (ET), and reason for the dental procedures were collected. The Kruskal–Wallis test together with Dunn's post hoc test, Chi-square test, and Spearman's correlation was used for statistical analysis. An alpha error of 5% was considered acceptable.

Results:

Significant differences were found for FT, EX (P < 0.05), ET and PT (P < 0.001) between the age groups. There were fewer FT in children compared to other age groups (P < 0.001). The most common reasons for restorations and endodontic treatment were dental caries (100%) and irreversible pulpitis (55.6%), respectively. The main reasons for teeth extractions were residual roots (21.3%), chronic apical periodontitis (19.7%), and crown destruction (19.3%). There were positive correlations between age and EX (r = 0.93; P = 0.025) and ET (r = 0.92; P = 0.028).

Conclusions:

FT, ET, EX, and PT procedures become more common in older patients. Tooth decay is the main reason for dental treatment in SCA patients.

[The use of dental services among preschool children: a population-based study]

The prevalence and factors associated with the use of dental services in a representative, probabilistic, complex sample with two-stage clusters of preschoolers aged 18 to 36 months was estimated. Structured questionnaires were answered by parents/guardians and the preschoolers were assessed by trained and qualified dental surgeons. In the analysis the corrections for the design effect were considered and the magnitudes of the associations based on logistic regression (OR/IC 95%) were estimated. 809 preschool children were evaluated, 15.5% of which had used dental services. Being older (3.27/1.71-6.24), having higher per capita income (2.65/1.50-4.65), having their own house (1.83/104 -3.23), having access to preventive oral health information (5.44/3.00-9.86), flossing (2.75/1.50-5.02) established higher odds of the use of these service. Not having the experience of caries (0.22/0.13- 0.38) and not having basic lesions in soft tissues (0.10/0.01-0.77) reduced these odds. The prevalence of the use of dental services was low, indicating the need for greater provision of such services and the broadening of preventive actions and health promotion and the greater the odds of use among those with better socio-economic conditions suggests inequality.

Factors associated with no dental treatment in preschoolers with toothache: a cross-sectional study in outpatient public emergency services

Many parents rely on emergency services to deal with their children's dental problems, mostly pain and infection associated with dental caries. This cross-sectional study analyzed the factors associated with not doing an oral procedure in preschoolers with toothache attending public dental emergency services. Data were obtained from the clinical files of preschoolers treated at all nine dental emergency centers in Goiania, Brazil, in 2011. Data were children's age and sex, involved teeth, oral procedures, radiography request, medications prescribed and referrals. A total of 531 files of children under 6 years old with toothache out of 1,108 examined were selected. Children's mean age was 4.1 (SD 1.0) years (range 1-5 years) and 51.6% were girls. No oral procedures were performed in 49.2% of cases; in the other 50.8%, most of the oral procedures reported were endodontic intervention and temporary restorations. Primary molars were involved in 48.4% of cases. With the exception of "sex", the independent variables tested in the regression analysis significantly associated with non-performance of oral procedures: age (OR 0.7; 95% CI 0.5-0.8), radiography request (OR 3.8; 95% CI 1.7-8.2), medication prescribed (OR 7.5; 95% CI 4.9-11.5) and patient referred to another service (OR 5.7; 3.0-10.9). Many children with toothache received no oral procedure for pain relief.

Fatores associados ao uso dos serviços de saúde bucal: estudo de base populacional em municípios do Maranhão, Brasil

Objetivou-se avaliar a utilização dos serviços de saúde bucal (SSB) e fatores associados nos municípios com mais de 100 mil habitantes do Maranhão. A amostra de base populacional incluiu 1214 crianças e 1059 adultos. Estimaram-se razões de prevalência (RP) por regressão de Poisson hierarquizada, segundo modelo teórico de Andersen. Mais de 91% das crianças e 71,9% dos adultos não utilizaram os SSB nos seis meses anteriores à entrevista. Dos que utilizaram 48,5% foram atendidos no SUS. Procedimentos preventivos foram mais frequentes que os curativos. Em crianças e adultos fatores predisponentes, facilitadores e de necessidade explicaram o uso de SSB. Em crianças, idade > 2 anos (RP = 5,29), maior escolaridade do chefe da família (RP = 2,37), > 6 consultas pré-natais (RP = 1,69) e necessidade de tratamento dentário (RP = 9,54) associaram-se ao maior uso dos SSB. Nos adultos, maior uso associou-se à maior escolaridade (RP = 2,26), classe econômica A/B (RP = 1,38), autopercepção da saúde boa/muito boa (RP = 1,72) e necessidade de tratamento (RP = 18,25). A utilização dos SSB não é universal, nem equânime e há deficiência na atenção integral, pois serviços de maior complexidade são utilizados por poucos. Menor número de consultas pré-natais parece ser preditor da não utilização dos SSB por crianças.

Preditores da realização de consultas odontológicas de rotina e por problema em pré-escolares

OBJETIVO: Estimar a prevalência do uso de serviços odontológicos por pré-escolares e fatores associados. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal com 1.129 crianças de cinco anos de idade da Coorte de Nascimentos de Pelotas 2004, RS, de setembro de 2009 a janeiro de 2010. Registrou-se o uso de serviço odontológico pelo menos uma vez na vida e o motivo para a primeira consulta odontológica da criança. As categorias do desfecho foram: ter feito a primeira consulta por rotina, para resolver um problema ou nunca ter ido ao dentista. Os exames bucais e as entrevistas foram realizados nos domicílios. Aspectos socioeconômicos e variáveis independentes ligadas à mãe e à criança foram analisados por meio de regressão logística multinomial. RESULTADOS: A prevalência de uso por qualquer motivo foi 37,0%. Os principais preditores para consulta de rotina foram nível econômico mais elevado, mãe com maior escolaridade e ter recebido orientação sobre prevenção. Principais preditores para consulta por problema foram ter sentido dor nos últimos seis meses, mãe com maior escolaridade e ter recebido orientação sobre prevenção. Cerca de 45,0% das mães receberam orientação de como prevenir cárie, principalmente fornecida por dentistas. Filhos de mães com história de maior aderência a programas de saúde tiveram maior probabilidade de ter feito uma consulta odontológica de rotina. CONCLUSÕES: A taxa de utilização dos serviços odontológicos por pré-escolares foi inferior às de consultas médicas (puericultura). Além da renda e da escolaridade, comportamentos maternos têm papel importante no uso por rotina. Relato de dor nos últimos seis meses e número elevado de dentes afetados por cárie, independentemente dos demais fatores, estiveram associados ao uso para resolver problema. É necessária a integração de ações de saúde bucal nos programas materno-infantis.

Construção da atenção secundária em saúde bucal: um estudo sobre os Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas em Pernambuco, Brasil

Objetivando avaliar os Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas de Pernambuco, Brazil, realizou-se estudo exploratório, utilizando dados secundários da produção ambulatorial 2006, critérios e normas instituídos para implantação destes serviços. Descreveu-se o cumprimento global das metas dos Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas, variáveis de caracterização dos serviços e dos municípios. Foram utilizadas análises do tipo descritiva e do tipo correlacional não paramétrica (coeficiente de Spearman), considerando-se o nível de significância de 5%. Dos 22 Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas, 40,9% obtiveram um desempenho bom, destacando que 81,8% cumpriram a meta para o subgrupo atenção básica em contraste com 13,6% que cumpriram a meta do subgrupo cirurgia oral menor. Dentre as variáveis independentes analisadas, apenas o porte populacional e o índice de desenvolvimento humano do município foram correlacionados ao desempenho dos Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas, quanto menor a cidade (r = 0,678; p < 0,001) e menor desenvolvimento humano (r = 0,599; p < 0,001), piores desempenhos foram observados. O estudo sugeriu que a normatizaçao para implantação e funcionamento dos Centros de Especialidades Odontológicas deva ser monitorada e avaliada para garantir uma melhor qualidade dos serviços para população.