[Indications and use of fissure sealants in public dental health care in Denmark. A questionnaire-investigation].

During the past decade usage of the fissure sealant technique for occlusal caries prevention has been increasingly recommended. This study explores variations in indications and usage of this technique in Denmark. A questionnaire was sent to 205 chief dental officers in the Danish Public Child Dental Health Service (PDHS) covering 90% of Danish children and to municipalities, where dental health to children is provided by private practitioners. More than half of the respondents did not use firmly defined criteria for fissure sealant application. Oral hygiene and previous caries experience were most often stated as indications. Actual usage of the sealant technique differed significantly from the PDHS and private clinics. Thus, 33% of the chief dental officers in the PDHS said that sealants were routinely applied to 8- and 13-year-olds, 43% to 30-80% of the children, and 15% used sealants to less than 10% of 8- and 13-year-olds. In contrast, only 5% of the private clinics reported routinely use of sealing technique, 22% used application to 30-80% of the children, while more than one third of the private practitioners used sealants to less than 10% of the 8- and 13-year-olds. In spite of the significant difference in sealant usage between PDHS and private practitioners, it was not possible to see a corresponding difference neither in caries prevalence nor in occlusal filling incidence. Moreover, analysis of PDHS caries prevalence data revealed that PDHS variations could not be explained by variations of risk in terms of social classes and caries incidence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)