Acta Odontológica Colombiana (Jul 2014)
Impact of the Family Health Strategy in dentistry in children under 6 years of a Network of Public Health Santiago de Cali
Abstract
Introduction: High rates of disease occur in childhood by dental decays; 10 years ago, the ESE Ladera of Cali implemented in Comuna 20 a Family Health Strategy (FHS). Objective: To evaluate the impact of the Family Health Strategy on the increase of oral health improvement in children under 6 years old at the municipality of Santiago de Cali 20. Material and methods: A Case Control study was conducted, taken as cases children from families of the Comuna 20 visited by FHS, and two controls. Finally, a multivariate multilevel linear regression analysis was conducted in order to estimate the proportion of the variance explained by the variables from the different levels included in the statistical model. Results: dental care from tooth decays was higher in children from visited families, β coef. = -0.042, 95%IC (-0.06 to -0.001), dental care increased with age, β coef = 0.02, 95%CI (0.0070 to 0.044), dental care was higher among vulnerable families, β coef. = 0.03, 95%CI (0.01 to 0.14), and among families living in overcrowded houses, β coef. = 0.081, 95%IC (0.01-0.14). On Linear regression multilevel analysis, the increasing on dental productivity of the FHS was explained by age of the child (9.4%), variables of the second level found associated to increased productivity of the FHS were: house overcrowding and tobacco use among adults at home, they both explained 53% of the variability. Conclusions: Children of families visited by the FHS were 3 likely to be cared for tooth decay than children from families who were not visited and the variables associated with the increased productivity of the FHS on dental care were child’s age, and house overcrowding and tobacco consumption among adult family members of the child.
