A randomised control trial of oral health education provided by a health visitor to parents of pre-school children.

Abstract

No statistically significant differences in mean dmfs scores were found between the control and intervention groups of children, although, as the children grew older, the gap between them widened. However, the mean dmfs score of other 5-year-olds in the area was significantly worse than that of children in the intervention group. Asking the control parents to take part in the study and examining their children at three years may have had an effect on their dental health status and have made it more difficult to detect any differences achieved by the programme.