This document outlines a research plan to study the effectiveness of dental fissure sealants in preventing cavities among New Zealand children. The study will analyze dental records of 200 children aged 6 from each health district, comparing cavity rates between those who received sealants and those who did not. Dental therapists will collect data and check each other for errors. Analysis will include frequencies of cavities in sealed vs. unsealed children and comparisons between variables. The goal is to identify sealants' effectiveness against cavities in New Zealand and inform decisions around sealing practices and resource allocation.
Good Afternoon Stanley, My chosen research topic of interest is the rate of dental caries amongst New Zealand children who have recieved fissure sealants
I choose this topic because Dental caries are the most common chronic disease in children. Dental caries can affect a child both mentally and physically impacting on both their quality of life and the quality of life of there family I choose this topic because as an oral health student of today we are now focusing largely on prevention of dental caries just as much as we did on treatment in the past. This move has lead me to question how effective fissure sealants are at preventing dental caries After searching the database Medline Ovid I found multiple articles on the effectiveness of fissure sealants, but failed to find any research undertaken with a New Zealand sample. After reading these articles I found that the effectiveness of fissure sealants at preventing dental caries differ amongst different countries, which lead me to question …
How effective are fissure sealants at preventing dental caries amongst New Zealand children?
Quantitative research involves systematically investigating a research variable and their relationships to explain a phenomenon My research looks at the NUMBER of children in New Zealand who have had caries after receiving fissure sealants The number of children who have received fissure sealants and have experienced dental caries is a countable occurrence so I have decided to use quantitative research methods So my research variables will be the rates of caries and its relationship to fissure sealed teeth
Quota sampling is the sampling method of choice for this research - 200 dental records of children at the age of six years on January 1st 2002 will be randomly extract from each DHB 100 of the children selected for the study would have received fissure sealants on their permanent first molars at the age of six years The other 100 children would have elected to not have fissure sealants on their permanent first molars The Criteria to be eligible for study include: DMF score of 2 at 6 years Medium risk for dental caries at the age of 6 years Visits a dental therapist annually up until the age of 13 years
Dental therapists (2 experienced trained dental therapist will be allocated to collect data from each DHB, from files which have been randomly selected from 2 main researchers ) Dental records (both electronic and hard copy) Data collection forms specifying the child’s file number Sex Ethnicity area of residence (to estimate social economic status) DMF score of permanent first molars at the age of 13 years And treatment undertaken on these permanent first molar
This quantitative study will use univariate analysis as it looks at the frequency of dental caries among children with fissure sealants in New Zealand Univariate analysis allows the researcher to individually analysis each variable from the data collected In this study the number of children who have had fissure sealants placed at the age of six years and there experience of dental caries at the age of 13 years will be compared with the caries rates of children who have not received fissure sealants in the same age group Univariate analysis also allows us to look at dental caries rate of participants in conjunction with other variables outlined in the data collection form so that we can note if there are any other factors which may influence the dental caries rate in this sample Testing dental caries against other variables is a test of rigour, as it enables the researcher to be confident that the rate of dental caries in the study is related to fissure sealants.
The goal of research is to improve the situation of human beings The study will help identify the rate in caries of those who have received fissure sealants compared to those who have not had fissure sealants. This will help identify the effectiveness of fissure sealants against dental caries in New Zealand.
Depending on the results of the research some implications may be Should we routinely fissure seal children’s teeth or should we select only high risk children? Should we deny low risk children fissure sealants? Noting that caries risk is forever changing If we decide to routinely seal all children’s teeth do we have sufficient resources to do so? Such as the number of dental therapist – since there is a higher demand for dental therapist than there are available Is fissure sealing cost effective? Are there any other methods which will provide more benefit at lower cost for everyone? Such as fluoridated water, health promotion Are we really teaching our children the importance of good oral hygiene if we are just sealing there teeth? It may provide a message saying that oral hygiene is not so important anymore
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