Prevalence of fissure sealants in Portuguese adolescents
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was designed with a sample of 447 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years old, attending a public school in Sátão, Portugal. A self-administered questionnaire with questions about oral health behaviours, knowledge and socio-economic status was answered by the adolescents in the classroom. Clinical examination of oral health status and assessment of fissure sealants was accomplished by a trained and calibrated research team. Prevalence was expressed in proportions and compared by the chi-square test. Crude odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to measure the strength of association between the presence of fissure sealants and the independent variables.
RESULTS: We verified that 58.8% of adolescents had at least one fissure sealant applied. From our total sample, we observed 830 teeth sealed, in which 63.3% were completely intact, 11.3% infiltrated but still without dental caries, 1.6% infiltrated but with the presence of dental caries, 23.5% with a partial fissure sealant but without dental caries and only 0.3% with a partial fissure sealant with dental caries present on the tooth surface. Significant statistical differences were found when analyzing the presence of fissure sealants related with parents´educational level (>9th grade, OR=1.56 CI95%=1.05-2.54), gender (female, OR=1.86 CI95%=1.19-2.98), experience of dental pain (yes, OR=0.62 CI95%=0.39-0.97) and presence of dental caries (yes, OR=0.35 CI95%=0.19-0.65).
CONCLUSIONS: It is essential the establishment of a more targeted primary preventive program with better and more effective oral health education, which will increase the application of fissure sealants. Oral health interventions need to have in account socio-demographic aspects, having special attention on adolescents and families with a lower socio-economic status.