Medición del nivel de control preventivo de la salud bucal en infantes menores de 8 años en la aparición temprana de caries dental

Abstract

There is a high number of infants under 8 years of age with dental caries that have appeared at very early ages, one of the main causes is inadequate oral hygiene by the adult/parent/caregiver, also due to poor preventive dental care due to poor follow-up dental or lack of interest in oral hygiene when thinking that they are temporary teeth and that at some point they will change. The objective is to measure the level of preventive control of oral health in infants under 8 years of age in the early appearance of dental caries through a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional and descriptive study. The study population consisted of 1275 children under 8 years of age with a sample of 100 children, applying a pilot test on 20 patients who met the inclusion criteria, who attended the Pueblo Nuevo Health Center and had dental caries. As an instrument, an observation sheet with 25 questions was prepared, validated by the judgment of health experts, checking the validity, relevance and coherence of each question. The results showed, little knowledge in prevention and hygiene as a risk factor for the early appearance of dental caries. It was determined that there is a close relationship between the preventive control of oral health in children under 8 years of age with the early appearance of dental caries; due to scarce preventive dental check-ups at least twice a year and as a consequence the probability of early appearance of different oral pathologies increases.