Prevention and management in children 2018
The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme published their updated guidance on the Prevention and Management of Dental Caries in Children (PMDCC) in May 2018. Drawing on research evidence and expert consensus, the guidance is designed to assist and support primary care practitioners and their teams in improving and maintaining the oral health of child patients.
The guidance was updated in order to take into account recent evidence, specifically the SIGN 138 Dental Interventions to Prevent Caries in Children guidelines, and other advancements in the evidence base.
The second edition includes advice on:
- Assessing the child and family
- Helping the family manage dental care
- Delivery of preventive care based on caries risk
- Choosing from the range of caries management options available
- Delivery of restorative care, including how to carry out specific treatments
- Referral and recall
- Management of suspected dental neglect
- Working with other agencies to support and safeguard the wellbeing of children and young people
In addition to the standard feedback questionnaire used at consultation, ​telephone interviews were conducted with practitioners involved in providing oral health care for children in the UK in order to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing the guidance. The findings from the consultation interviews can be found in this Interview summary report (PDF). The findings from the interviews helped inform pre- and post-publication questionnaires which were developed to assess changes in practitioners’ beliefs, attitudes and working practices before and after the publication of the updated guidance. Dentists were asked to take part in May 2018, before the guidance was published, and then again in November 2018, six months after the guidance was published. More information about these questionnaires and the results of this study can also be found in the Pre- and post-publication questionnaires summary report (PDF).