Comparisons between referred and non-referred patients to a university paediatric dental clinic.

Background: Referrals of paediatric patients to a university clinic have been increasing over the last several years.

Aim: To evaluate characteristics of referred and non-referred patients at the University of Iowa's Pediatric Dental Clinic (UIPDC).

Design: A retrospective chart review included dental records of 340 referred and 383 non-referred patients from July 1, 2015, to May 31, 2016 (n = 723).

Emergency department visits and revisits for nontraumatic dental conditions in Iowa.

Objectives: To examine the characteristics associated with emergency department (ED) utilization in Iowa for nontraumatic dental conditions (NTDCs), and those associated with having multiple visits to the ED for NTDCs before the Medicaid expansion program in Iowa.

Methods: State Emergency Department Database for Iowa was used for 2012, which comprised of all outpatient ED visits in the state. Logistic regression was used for bivariate and multivariable analyses to model the odds of visiting the ED for NTDCs, relative to other conditions, and odds of visiting the ED multiple times relative to a single time in 2012 for NTDCs.

Potential utilization of expanded function dental auxiliaries to place restoratives.

Objectives: The Affordable Care Act is predicted to increase dental benefits coverage for millions of Americans. Utilization of expanded function dental auxiliaries (EFDAs) can contribute to increased workforce capacity. Iowa currently allows EFDAs to perform certain nonrestorative procedures.

The willingness of US pediatric dentists to use atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) with their patients: a conjoint analysis.

Objectives: The atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) was developed as an affordable, patient-friendly dental caries management procedure that does not need extensive operator training or special skills. The aim of this study was to determine factors that influence the decision to use ART using an innovative marketing research technique known as conjoint analysis.

Methods: A conjoint survey was completed by 723 members of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.

Sodium hypochlorite pulpotomies in primary teeth: a retrospective assessment.

Purpose: In 2007, the University of Iowa's advanced training program in pediatric dentistry replaced the traditional formocresol vital pulpotomy technique with a 5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) technique. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical/radiographic success over 21 months of 5% NaOCl as the medicament in primary molar pulpotomies compared to published data for formocresol and ferric sulfate pulpotomies.

Methods: A retrospective chart audit was performed to evaluate results for all primary molar pulpotomies completed during a 12-month period using NaOCl.

Iowa's public health-based infant oral health program: a decade of experience.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that children have their first dental visit no later than age one. However, not all dental schools have made hands-on infant oral health programs a reality in their predoctoral programs. To target high-caries risk infants/toddlers and provide dental students more hands-on experience with this age group, the University of Iowa Department of Pediatric Dentistry established an Infant Oral Health Program (IOHP) affiliated with the local Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinic.

Considerations on optimal fluoride intake using dental fluorosis and dental caries outcomes--a longitudinal study.

Objectives: The "optimal" intake of fluoride has been widely accepted for decades as between 0.05 and 0.07 mg fluoride per kilogram of body weight (mg F/kg bw) but is based on limited scientific evidence.

Caries prior to age 3 and breastfeeding: a survey of La Leche League members.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a secondary data analysis of results from a 1985 survey of La Leche League International (LLLI) members to further investigate the relationship between breast-feeding and caries prior to age 3 (CPA3).

Methods: Subjects were 576 LLLI mothers who responded to a 23-item questionnaire concerning the following factors for their oldest child: (1) breast-feeding habits; (2) fluoride status; (3) use of antibiotics; (4) carbohydrate ingestion; (5) history of caries; and (6) oral hygiene practices.

Results: CPA3 was reported in 10% of all children breast-fed for more than 3 years.

Four-year cost-utility analyses of sealed and nonsealed first permanent molars in Iowa Medicaid-enrolled children.

Objectives: Dental sealants, by their ability to prevent caries and maintain teeth in better health, have some inherent utility to individuals, programs, or society. This study assessed the 4-year incremental cost utility of sealing first permanent molars of 6-year-old Iowa Medicaid enrollees from a societal perspective and identified the group of teeth or children in whom sealants are most cost effective.

Methods: Dental services for first permanent molars were assessed using claims and encounter data for a group of continuously enrolled Medicaid enrollees who turned 6 between 1996 and 1999.

Child temperament and risk factors for early childhood caries.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between a mother's perception of her child's temperament and the child's risk factors for early childhood caries (ECC).

Methods: Data was collected from 629 records of children ages 0 to 4 who were patients of the University of Iowa's Infant Oral Health Program. Data included: (1) maternal report of child's temperament; (2) knowledge of ECC; (3) dietary and oral hygiene habits; and (4) clinical evidence of cavitated and noncavitated lesions and visible plaque on maxillary incisors.

Associations between dental fluorosis of the permanent and primary dentitions.

Objectives: Relatively little is known about associations between primary and permanent tooth fluorosis. In this study, associations between dental fluorosis of the permanent and primary dentitions were assessed.

Methods: Subjects (n = 601) are in the Iowa Fluoride Study, which included fluorosis examinations of the primary and early-erupting permanent dentitions by trained dentist examiners.

Survey of Iowa general dentists regarding the age 1 dental visit.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess Iowa general dentists regarding the age 1 dental visit.

Methods: A 15-item survey was mailed to 1,521 licensed dentists to address their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding the age 1 dental visit. Chi-square statistics and logistic regression models were used to analyze data.

Oral health behaviors of children in low and high socioeconomic status families.

Purpose: This prospective longitudinal study compared the patterns of oral health behaviors between low and high socioeconomic status (SES) families participating in the Iowa Fluoride Study for a period of 9 years.

Methods: Information on oral health behaviors, including consumption of juices/juice drinks, soda pop, and powder-based drinks, dental visits, and tooth-brushing frequency, was collected longitudinally at periodic intervals from 6 to 108 months of age. Dental exams were conducted at 5 and 9 years of age.

Timing of fluoride intake in relation to development of fluorosis on maxillary central incisors.

Objectives: Several studies have focused on the timing of fluoride intake relative to the development of dental fluorosis. This study reports the relationships of fluoride intake during the first 48 months of life with fluorosis on early-erupting permanent teeth.

Methods: Subjects were followed from birth to 48 months with questionnaires every 3-4 months.

Longitudinal study of non-cavitated carious lesion progression in the primary dentition.

Objectives: This study reports changes in non-cavitated tooth surface diagnoses after a 4-year period.

Methods: Dental examinations were conducted for Iowa Fluoride Study cohort children who had non-cavitated lesions in the primary dentition and were also examined an average of 4 years later in the mixed dentition. Comparison of fluoride exposures, socioeconomic factors, and beverage consumption patterns were made between children who had lesions progress and those who did not.

Effects of nonnutritive sucking habits on occlusal characteristics in the mixed dentition.

Purpose: Little is known about the extent to which nonnutritive sucking habits contribute to malocclusion in the mixed dentition. The purpose of this study was to report on the relationship between certain occlusal traits in the mixed dentition and longitudinal sucking behaviors.

Methods: Dental examinations were conducted on 630 children in the mixed dentition who participated in a large, ongoing longitudinal study.

Natural history of treatment outcomes of permanent first molars: a study of sealant effectiveness.

Background: Few studies have used insurance claims data to retrospectively assess the natural history--a natural process or flow of events without any special interventions--and treatment outcomes of teeth with dental sealants.

Methods: The authors constructed treatment outcome trees (TOTs) from the Iowa Medicaid claims and eligibility data (1996-2000) of continuously enrolled 6-year-old children who routinely used Medicaid dental services. The authors used the TOTs to compare the restorative treatments of sealed permanent first molars with those of nonsealed permanent first molars.

Dentists' participation and children's use of services in the Indiana dental Medicaid program and SCHIP: assessing the impact of increased fees and administrative changes.

Background: The authors conducted a study to evaluate whether administrative changes, including higher fee schedules for dental services in the Indiana dental Medicaid program and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), were associated with improved dentist participation and utilization of dental services by children.

Methods: The authors evaluated dentists' participation and children's use of services for the two years before fees were increased to 100 percent of the 75th percentile of usual and customary fees, compared with two years after the increase. They obtained administrative data from the Indiana Department of Family and Social Services Administration and the Indiana Department of Public Health to determine participation rates and service use.

Overview of the evidence for clinical interventions in pediatric dentistry.

Purpose: The purpose of this report was to describe the quantity of published literature and types of studies supporting the use of 4 pediatric dentistry procedures: (1) ferric sulfate pulpotomy; (2) stainless steel crowns; (3) space maintainers; and (4) atraumatic restorative technique (ART).

Methods: When available, titles and abstracts of reports written in English and published over a 36-year period (1966-2002) concerning these procedures were retrieved from MEDLINE. They were classified using a modified classification scheme that, in addition to the study designs, also considered the 4 dimensions of measuring dental outcomes.

Twelve-month sealant retention in a school-based program using a self-etching primer/adhesive.

Objectives: Very little independent research has been done on the new self-etching primer/adhesives in dentistry. A recent clinical study compared two sealant application techniques involving self-etching primer adhesives and the traditional phosphoric acid etch. The purpose of this study was to compare these two techniques in an Iowa school-based sealant program.

The relationship between healthful eating practices and dental caries in children aged 2-5 years in the United States, 1988-1994.

Background: As a result of the introduction of multiple fluoride vehicles and other preventive agents, caries prevalence rates in young children have been declining over the past two decades in the United States. However, changing dietary patterns in young children may offset some of the oral health benefits of fluoridation. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between caries in primary teeth and healthful eating practices in young children.

Dental visits and professional fluoride applications for children ages 3 to 6 in Iowa.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report the occurrence of having a dental visit and/or a topical fluoride treatment from age 36 months to 72 months among a cohort of children followed longitudinally since birth.

Methods: Families of children enrolled in a study of fluoride ingestion were asked about their children's dental appointments and office fluoride treatments occurring during the time interval since the previous mailed questionnaire. Percentages of children who had at least 1 dental visit and at least 1 fluoride treatment during each 6-month period, each year of life, and cumulatively from birth were calculated separately.

Interdental spacing and caries in the primary dentition.

Purpose: This study assessed the relationship between interdental spacing patterns and caries experience in the primary dentition.

Methods: Caries examinations were conducted amoung 356 children 4 to 6 years of age. At the time of the examinations, alginate impressions were obtained and poured in yellow stone.

Current understanding of the epidemiology mechanisms, and prevention of dental caries in preschool children.

The seriousness and societal costs of dental caries in preschool children are enormous. National data shows that caries is highly prevalent in poor and near poor US preschool children, yet this disease is infrequently treated. The etiology includes elevated colonization levels of mutans streptococci, high frequency sugar consumption, and developmental defects on primary teeth.

Tooth eruption symptoms: a survey of parents and health professionals.

Unlabelled: It is commonly believed that teething in infants can cause a variety of signs and symptoms. Previous studies have suggested an association between teething and fever, irritability, drooling, rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, night crying, and convulsions.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate differences in the beliefs of pediatricians, pediatric dentists and parents regarding symptoms caused by teething in infants.