Pediatrics and pedodontics: a close association

Abstract

Dentistry was considered an essentially curative speciality for many decades, in sharp contrast to today's view of prevention of oral diseases. Thus, the dental management ofyoung children consists basically of a preventive approach.· The present work examined the attitude of 89 pediatricians from Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, regarding to some aspects of the dental care of their patients. The results of this survey showed that 27% of the professionals considered dental caries as a transmissible disease and 85% of them considered it as a dental infection. AlI pediatricians agreed that dental caries evolves through many stages and 72% of them believe that a restoration is the cure for it. 98%of the pediatricians believe in a direct correlation between oral hygiene and caries prevention; 90%recommend oral hygiene between Oand 3 years of age. AlI professionals believe in a direct correlation between diet and dental caries and in a positive correlation between fluoride and caries prevention. 86% considered the topic fluoride application as the most reliable caries preventive method. In addition, 20% supported pre-natal systemic fluoride application and 37% recommend the post-natal systemic fluoride application. 63% of the pediatricians considered the fluoride as an exclusively preventive treatment and 37% believe it aiso has a therapeutic effect. 74,5%of the pediatricians recommend that the child should be introduced to the pediatric dentist between O and 3 years of age. These results suggest that some pre-established concepts should be reviewed by pediatricians in order to promote a higher standard of caries prevention for oral diseases. Key words: pediatrician, pediatric dentist, dental caries, prevention.