ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oral Health
Sec. Oral Health Promotion
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1699807
Evaluation of Individualized Management on children with ECC after dental general anesthesia via virtual dental home: A Quasi-Experimental Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Pediatric Dentistry, Stomatological Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
- 2The Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
- 3Chongqing University of Chinese Medicine, Chongqing, China
- 4Stomatological Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
- 5School and Hospital of Stomatology, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
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Introduction/Objectives: The recurrence rate was high in children with early children`s caries (ECC) after treatment under dental general anesthesia(DGA ).The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual dental home (VDH) intervention compared to routine intervention in the management of children following ECC treatment under DGA, focusing on enhancing parental oral health awareness. Methods:35 child-caregiver couples presenting for treatment under DGA were randomly assigned to two groups:19 couples via VDH intervention and 16 couples via routine intervention.Children`s pre-and post-intervention decayed missing filled teeth (dmft) and caries risk assessment (CRA) was recorded via children's oral examinations. Participants`demographics, pre-and post-intervention scores of Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) , and children's oral behavior and parents' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) related to children's oral health were collected through questionnaires. The length of the intervention was 2 years. Results:At baseline, no significant differences existed in demographic characteristics,CRA level distribution, scores of ECOHIS and children's oral behavior and parents' KAP related to children's oral health between the two groups. By the 2-year follow-up, ECOHIS scores significantly decreased in both groups.The mean scores of parents' KAP and children's oral health behaviors significantly improved in both groups, with a greater enhancement in the VDH intervention group. Children`s CRA distribution in VDH intervention group changed significantly than in routine intervention group. The caries-free rate was 47.37% in the VDH intervention group compared to 68.75% in the routine intervention group. Conclusions:VDH intervention significantly outperformed the routine intervention methods in ECC prevention and management after treatment under DGA via enhancing parental oral health awareness. Clinical Perspectives: Evaluating the effectiveness of virtual dental home (VDH) intervention in preventing caries recurrence after ECC treatment under DGA was the aim of the study.The results of this study showed that the applications such as digital platform had more advantages in the management after ECC treatment under DGA than the routine intervention method. These findings provided new ideas for the a shift towards technology-assisted models and artificial intelligence should be provided into the management of ECC in the future.
Keywords: Individualized management, Early children`s caries, dental general anesthesia, Virtual dental home, caries risk assessment
Received: 13 Sep 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dai, Wu, Zhang, Jia, Zhou and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yun Hu, 500188@hospital.cqmu.edu.cn
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