Abstract
Objective: To find out the barriers in treating Early Childhood Caries in children by general dentists. Material and Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was undertaken among fifty general dentists in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, following a simple random sampling. Each selected candidate was given a barrier in childhood caries treatment (BaCCT) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the absolute and relative frequencies, mean, median and standard deviation. Results: The general dentists exhibited quite a few barriers in providing treatment for Early Childhood Caries. The children don’t like to sit on dental chair (74%), they don’t like the sound of drill (78%) and they are fearful of dental treatment (86%). Providing care for children can be stressful and troublesome for the dentist (80%) and that they feel time constrained, i.e they do not spend much time with children (70%). Training in the field of management of child behaviour enhances their ability to handle early childhood caries. Conclusion: The general dentists should be given proper training in handling children in their curriculum or through continuing education programmes so that they can act as a larger workforce to be able to treat Early Childhood Caries effectively and efficiently for the benefit of society.
Highlights
Childhood caries (ECC) is defined as the presence of one or more decayed, missing, or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a child at 71 months of age or younger [1]
The children don’t like to sit on dental chair (74%; n = 37), they don’t like the sound of drill (78%; n = 39) and they are fearful of dental treatment (86%; n = 43) (Figure 1)
Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 5 Q 6 Q 7 Q 8 Q 9 Q 10Q 11Q 12Q 13Q 14Q 15Q 16Q 17Q 18Q 19Q 20Q 21Q 22. This cross sectional descriptive study was done to note the barriers considered by general dentists in Bhubaneswar city in treating early childhood caries
Summary
Childhood caries (ECC) is defined as the presence of one or more decayed, missing, or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a child at 71 months of age or younger [1]. It has several unique characteristics in clinical appearance such as rapid development of caries, which affects a number of teeth soon after they emerge in oral cavity [2]. These lesions involve tooth surfaces that are less prone to caries development [3]. Diagnosis of caries lesions is important since the dynamic nature of the lesion progression allows the continuous mineral loss interruption when the balance between minerals from teeth and oral fluids is restored [7]
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