Ten year results of sealants placed in the New Mexico sealant program.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J J Calderone.
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In 1979, the dental health program of the New Mexico Health and Environment Department began a school-based sealant activity. Children in the first, second, third, sixth, and seventh grades in selected New Mexico communities were offered sealants through this sealant activity. During the 1984-85 school year, program staff began seeing several hundred sixth-grade students who had received sealants in either the first, second, or third grade. Tooth- and surface-specific data on the current condition of all the previously sealed occlusal surfaces were collected from all these previous recipients of sealants. During the 1985-86 school year, we found that sixth-grade students who received sealants as first, second, or third graders had 5.6 percent of the occlusal surfaces of their first permanent molars either decayed, missing, or filled. Their classmates who had not previously received sealants had 26.85 percent of the same tooth surfaces either decayed, missing, or filled. During the 1985-86 school year, the complete retention rates for sealants were found to be 67.36 percent after six years, 78.53 percent after five years, and 93.47 percent after one year. The partial retention rates were found to be 10.46 percent after six years, 10.63 percent after five years, and 3.04 percent after one year.
This study measures the prevalence and distribution of dental fluorosis and coronal caries in lifelong adult residents of two New Mexico communities. One community has a natural fluoride concentration of approximately 0.7 mg/L in its drinking water, optimum for the climate, and the water of the other community is naturally fluoridated at approximately 3.5 mg/L, five times optimum. The differences between the communities in amounts of dental fluorosis and any reduced susceptibility to dental caries associated with higher levels of fluorosis, particularly in molars, the teeth most susceptible to decay, are discussed.
In 1983, the New Mexico Board of Dentistry ruled that the New Mexico Health and Environment Department's sealant program violated its rules and regulations concerning the supervision of dental hygienists. The state was forced to reduce the number of children served by the program to comply with the decision. Attempts to secure a revision of the rules and regulations to accommodate the needs of public programs were unsuccessful. Relief eventually came through the revision of the Dental Practice Act itself to permit general supervision of all dental hygienists. The supervision controversy was an explosive political issue between dentists and dental hygienists that had negative repercussions for the state dental public health preventive program.
The purpose of this study was to describe the distribution of advanced periodontal destruction (pocket depth equal to or deeper than six mm) in continuous residents, aged 27 to 74 years, of Lordsburg and Deming, New Mexico. The distance from the free gingival margin to the base of the gingival crevice or pocket was measured on the facial and mesiofacial sides of six index teeth. The presence of supragingival calculus, subgingival calculus, and plaque, as well as gingival bleeding around the index teeth, also were evaluated. Of the 372 examinees, only 46 individuals (12.4 percent) had at least one deep pocket equal to or deeper than six mm on at least one site on the six index teeth. Age was significantly associated with prevalence of deep pockets, although about 80 percent of those aged 47 to 74 years did not have deep pockets. Of those with deep pockets, 89.1 percent had fewer than four tooth sites (out of 12) affected. The only significant risk factor of the presence of deep pockets, other than age, was the number of teeth with plaque accumulations. Age and the number of teeth with plaque explained only 10.5 percent of the variability in the prevalence of deep pocketing, suggesting that risk factors other than those included in this study may be important. The results of this study indicate that destructive periodontal disease occurs at selected sites within the mouth, and that about 87 percent of the adults over age 27, in this population, do not have deep pockets in the six index teeth examined.
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A school-based pit-and-fissure sealant activity was developed by the Dental Health Section, Health Services Division, New Mexico Health and Environment Department as an adjunct to an ongoing dental disease prevention program. The sealants were applied by dental hygienist and dental assistant teams using a "four-handed" technic. The teams took portable dental equipment directly into the schools to apply the sealants to newly erupted permanent teeth. The costs to seal 15,281 teeth in 3,272 children were calculated to be $1.59 per tooth, and $7.41 per child. The average time for sealant application was nine minutes, 24.6 seconds per child. The one-year retention rate was 83 percent complete retention and 10 percent partial retention.
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