Janet Shear
Sylvia Sawires
Sylvana Sawires
Samantha Chiarello
| Janet Shear | Sylvia Sawires | Sylvana Sawires | Samantha Chiarello |
Janet Shear, Sylvia Sawires, Sylvana Sawires, Samantha Chiarello
Joan Gluch, Deanne Wallaert
Division of Community Oral Health, Preventive & Restorative Sciences, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
Introduction
In pediatric dentistry, we are frequently involved with patients who are at a high risk for caries even at a young age. In order to mitigate this issue, patients are prescribed PreviDent toothpaste to slow down and reduce the risk of caries. PreviDent has been shown to remineralize demineralized enamel and root dentin. It also strengthens teeth and protects against acid wear. However, many times, we find that patients are not utilizing the prescription toothpaste. This is especially concerning when the patients return and new carious lesions are identified. The goal of our study is to understand the rationale behind non-compliance in regard to PreviDent usage. Which factors are interfering with patients continuously using this toothpaste? We want to assess whether proper oral hygiene instruction and including a brochure with our instructions will aid in PreviDent compliance.
Methods
The aim of this study is to boost PreviDent usage in the pediatric dental patient population with a high risk for caries. Our hypothesis is that through thoroughly describing the directions to use PreviDent and providing patients with a brochure with both directions and benefits of PreviDent usage that we will see an improvement in compliance. At the initial visit, we will provide the patient and their guardian a brochure that will review what PreviDent is, what the benefits are, and how to use it. Then, we will follow up with the patient’s PreviDent usage through a 1-month follow-up call to the parent/guardian and either a verbal survey at the 3-month recall appointment or another phone call to the parent/guardian. We will enroll up to 100 participants for the study.
Results
We have received IRB approval to enroll human participants in this study. We plan to begin enrolling patients in this study at the Penn Dental Medicine Pediatric Dental clinic.
Conclusion
As of now, we do not have any conclusions as we are still collecting results. If the data shows that PreviDent compliance barriers are due to not understanding how to use the toothpaste, further educational materials and measures can be used to teach patients the prescribed usage of the toothpaste. If the data shows that PreviDent compliance includes barriers such as access, further studies or interventions can be done to make PreviDent more accessible.