Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #119434

Jonathan David Shenkin, DDS, MPH, Boston University, 792 Stillwater Ave, Bangor, ME 04402, 207-947-6733, jshenkin@bu.edu

The desire to increase access to restorative dental services for young children is based on a fundamental belief that carious primary teeth, if left unrestored, will result in pain, infection, and extraction. It is widely believed that restorative dental care can prevent these untoward outcomes. Yet, few studies have been undertaken to establish that a restored primary dentition places a child at a greater advantage than a non-restored dentition.

Several studies conducted in the United Kingdom suggest that access to restorative dental care does not necessarily result in a decrease in pain, infection and subsequent need for dental extraction. These results are cause for some level of alarm, since we treat caries in the primary dentition in expectation that by doing so we are decreasing the risk for pain and suffering among children. Yet it is widely acknowledged that many children in the United States often go without treatment, not by choice, but because of a lack of dentists willing to see young children or children enrolled in Medicaid.

The question must be asked: What can we expect when dental caries in the primary dentition goes untreated? Are the outcomes always negative? And what can be learned from these outcomes? It is possible that not all carious primary teeth need to be restored and that in a time of growing disease rates, inadequate resources, and limited access to care, public funding could be better spent on prevention than on restorative dental care in the primary dentition.

Learning Objectives:

• understand access issues that limit restorative care
• Evaluate impact of non-treatment on dental caries
• Assess value of funding prevention over treatment programs

Keywords: Oral Health, Pediatrics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation