Effectiveness of oral health educative and mouth rinse programs in preventing dental caries in fluoridated area

The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of the “collective procedures” (CPs = oral health educational and preventive annual programs developed in public schools by the Brazilian public health system) in preventing dental caries. Compare the caries experience in adolescents of the 9^th grade of public schools aged 15 to 19 years old (n = 213), participants or not in the CPs, when they were children. The data was obtained in 2005 in cross-sectional study conducted in the city of Embu, in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, which holds CPs since 1992 and has its water fluoridated since 1983. The study population was divided into three groups: those who had received the CPs in elementary public school from grades 1^st to 4^th (A), those who had received them from grades 1^st to 8^th (B) and those who had not received the CPs (C). Oral examinations and interviews were conducted. The experience of caries was evaluated by DMFT index, employed like a dependent variable, and setting up in two outcomes: DMFT≥1 or DMFT≥4. Another variables like socioeconomic levels, oral hygiene habits and dietary patterns integrated models of the bivariate analysis and multiple regression.
The DMFT of the sample was 2.49 (95% CI; 2.10-2.88). There was a difference between the means of groups B (3.1) and C (2.0) (p=0027). The percentage of caries-free (DMFT = 0) was lower in group B (p=0007). Sex female and high frequency of intake of sugars in adolescence were associated with higher values of DMFT, even after 8 years of exposure to the CPs.The DMFT of the CPs´ participants was not lower than those who did not received the preventive program so, in this context, CPs were not effective to cause favorable impact on future generation. Supported by: CNPq 403523/2004-4