Atraumatic restorative treatments and oral health-related quality of life and dental anxiety in Australian Aboriginal children: A cluster-randomized trial.

Objectives: The management of early childhood caries is challenging and the impacts of its treatment on child oral health-related quality of life (COHRQoL) and dental anxiety among Australian Aboriginal children is relatively unknown. The aim of the study was to compare the impact on COHRQoL and dental anxiety after approximately 12 months among Aboriginal children treated for early childhood caries (ECC) using the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment and the Hall Technique (ART/HT: test) or standard care (control).

Methods: Consenting Aboriginal communities in the North-West of Western Australia were randomized into early (test) or delayed (control) intervention for the management of ECC.

Minimally Invasive Dentistry Based on Atraumatic Restorative Treatment to Manage Early Childhood Caries in Rural and Remote Aboriginal Communities: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The caries experience of Aboriginal children in Western Australia (WA) and elsewhere in Australia is more than twice that of non-Aboriginal children. Early childhood caries (caries among children <6 years) has a significant impact on the quality of life of children and their caregivers, and its management is demanding and commonly undertaken under general anesthesia. A randomized controlled trial using a minimally invasive dentistry approach based on Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (ART) in metropolitan Perth, WA, has demonstrated a significant reduction in the rate of referral to a dental specialist for dental care among children with early childhood caries, potentially reducing the need for treatment under general anesthesia.

Hospital admissions and emergency department presentations for dental conditions indicate access to hospital, rather than poor access to dental health care in the community.

High rates of dental-related potentially preventable hospitalisations are thought to reflect poor access to non-hospital dental services. The association between accessibility (geographic and financial) to non-hospital dentists and potentially preventable hospitalisations was examined in Western Australia. Areas with persistently high rates of dental-related potentially preventable hospitalisations and emergency department (ED) presentations were mapped.