| 0108 Clinical Outcomes for Early Childhood Caries (ECC): the Influence of Health Locus of Control | ||
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R.J. BERKOWITZ, University of Rochester, NY, USA, I.C. CHASE, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, H. PROSKIN, H.M. Proskin & Associates Inc, Rochester, NY, USA, P. WEINSTEIN, University of Washington School of Dentistry, Seattle, USA, and R.J. BILLINGS, University of Rochester Eastman Dental Center, NY, USA Objective:To assess the relationship between clinicial outcomes for children treated for ECC under general anethesia and parental health locus of control. Methods:The study population consisted of 79 children(42M/37F) with ECC ranging in age from 2.3-7.3y at their time of entry into the study. A questionnaire was administered to the patient's parent(or primary caretaker) on the day of dental surgery. This questionnaire utilized the health locus of control questionnaire developed by DeVellis and coworkers. This questionnaire examines the expectation that healthcare outcomes in children are influenced by one of the following parental loci of control: Child, Divine, Fate, Media, Parent or Professional. The study population was evaluated for new caries lesions at 6 mos post dental surgery; 57(72%) returned for the follow-up examination. Relapse was defined as the presence of new smooth surface caries lesions as described by Radike with the exception that white spot lesions were not penetrated. Results:21 of the 57(39%) relapsed. Relapse v.Non-Relapse groups were compared to parental loci of control using ANOVA; there were no statistically significant differences (p values ranged from 0.32-0.95). Power calculations indicated that the power of the comparison to detect a 0.33 unit difference in the locus scores was 80% or greater for all locus parameters. Conclusions:These findings indicated that no meaningful difference existed between Relapse and Non Relapse groups with respect to each parental locus of control. Accordingly, this observation suggests that biological variables may be more important than locus of control variables in causing relapse for children treated for ECC. (This study was supported by NIDCR grant DE12959) | ||
| Seq #23 - Caries Risk Assessment, Caries Lesion Detection 9:00 AM-11:00 AM, Thursday, 13 March 2003 Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center Room 210 | ||
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