Dental pain and dental treatment of young children attending the general dental service

Abstract

Objectives: The objective was to examine the relationship between dentalpain (and its sequaelae), and the extent of restorative care providedfor primary molars, amongst children who regularly attend a generaldental practitioner,Methods: A retrospective review of the clinical case notes of 677children with caries who attended 50 general dental practitioners on aregular basis. Analyses were performed at the subject level. Logisticregression models were fitted for the dependent variables whether or notpain, a dental extraction for pain or sepsis and a course of antibioticswas recorded, after taking into account the proportion of Carious teeththat were restored, the total number of carious teeth, the age carieswas first recorded, gender and the clustering of the subjects withindental practices.Results: Almost half of the children in the study (48%) were recordedas having at least one episode of pain. Total decay experience in theprimary molars was a significant predictor of pain, extraction due topain or sepsis and prescription of antibiotics. There was no significantassociation between the proportion of carious teeth restored and each ofthe three dependent variables.Conclusions: For those children who regularly attend their generaldental practitioner and who have decay in their primary molars, dentalpain is a common finding. Total decay experience in primary molars isthe principal predictor of pain, extraction due to pain and the need forantibiotics, whilst the level of restorative care in the primarydentition is less important. In order to reduce the incidence of dentalpain in young children, effective methods of preventing Caries at theindividual and public health levels need to be expanded.