Effects of fluoride varnish in preventing tooth decay in well child clinic, Suphanburi Province

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of applied fluoride varnish (5% NaF) in the prevention of dental caries in children registered in 12 well child clinics, Suphanburi. Children age between 9-12 month were randomly chosen as samples in study and control groups. Both received 4 oral health counselings at the age of 9-12, 18, 24 and 30 months respectively. The former was applied with fluoride varnish every single counseling session. They were continually monitored till turning 36 months old when samples, originally numbered 129 and 124 in each, culminated in the numbers of 94 and 81 respectively. In the contrary with the initial result, children in both groups expressed no apparent tooth cavity. At the end of the study, the result revealed that individually the prevalence and severity of dental caries was significantly lower than in study group (p = 0.02, p = 0.03). The caries reduction in the children and in tooth surfaces were 24.4% and 37.5%.