Referral from well-child care clinics to dental clinics leads to earlier initiation of preventive dental visits: A quasi-experimental study.

Autor: Verlinden DA; Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Center, Groningen, The Netherlands.; TNO Child Health, Leiden, The Netherlands., Schuller AA; Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Center, Groningen, The Netherlands.; TNO Child Health, Leiden, The Netherlands., Vermaire JHE; Center for Dentistry and Oral Hygiene, University Medical Center, Groningen, The Netherlands.; TNO Child Health, Leiden, The Netherlands., Reijneveld SA; TNO Child Health, Leiden, The Netherlands.; Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: International journal of paediatric dentistry [Int J Paediatr Dent] 2024 Mar; Vol. 34 (2), pp. 190-197. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Sep 25.
DOI: 10.1111/ipd.13124
Abstrakt: Background: An ealy first preventive dental visit for children is recommended no later than twelve months. However, still many children have their first dental visit relatively late.
Aim: To evaluate whether active or passive referral by a well-child care (WCC) physician of babies for a first preventive dental visit leads to earlier initiation of dental care.
Design: From WCC clinics in two Dutch regions, 629 parents of babies participated. Parents received an active referral from a WCC physician for a dental visit for their babies (n = 204) or received care as usual (CAU) (n = 136) in one region and a passive referral (n = 143) or CAU (n = 146) in the other region. Active referral involved parents receiving a scheduled appointment at the dental practice, and passive referral involved parents making an appointment themselves. During the WCC visit, parents completed a baseline questionnaire. At age 2.5 years, parents received a follow-up questionnaire about dental attendance.
Results: Of the active referral intervention group, 59.3% had their first preventive dental visit in their first year compared with 3.7% in the CAU group (p < .001); for the passive referral group, 46.9% compared with 9.6% (p < .001).
Conclusion: Referral of babies by WCC for their first preventive dental visit leads to earlier initiation of dental care. An active referral had a larger effect than passive referral.
(© 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry published by BSPD, IAPD and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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