Assessment of a dental disease prevention program after three years.

This assessment compared routine data on selected clinical services provided within the Oklahoma City Area of the Indian Health Service during the first six months of fiscal year 1984, prior to implementation of a program emphasizing oral health promotion and disease prevention, to comparable data from 1987. The assessment revealed: similar absolute numbers of routine examinations and completed treatment among children; a 10 percent increase in total visits for persons of all ages, accomplished with comparable numbers of dental personnel; and an increase in the percent of services that were preventive, as well as a concomitant decrease in basic restorative services. The ratio of pit and fissure sealants to one-surface amalgam restorations was reversed dramatically. Although counts of services rendered do not measure oral health status directly, some conclusions are warranted. Clinical dental personnel can be reoriented to devote an increased proportion of available patient care time to primary preventive services, accomplishing a substantial increase in these services. That increase is associated with a corresponding decrease in the proportion of basic restorative services.