Dental health educators in general practice have small impact: Are dental health educators in general dental practice clinically and cost-effective in improving oral health?

Design A cluster randomised, controlled clinical trial of two years' duration. Intervention Test group were given visits to a dental health educator over a 2-year period to counsel mothers of at-risk, pre-school children.Outcome measure Caries prevalence of the children and dental health knowledge, attitudes and toothbrushing skills of the parents. The full costs of the exercise were kept throughout. Results After 2 years, 271 (81%) children and 248 (92%) mothers remained in the study. There was an 18% difference in mean dmft between the groups in favour of the test group children but this was not statistically significant. Conclusions The model tested of seconding a qualified dental health educator to general dental practices to counsel mothers of regularly attending, at-risk, young children failed to reveal a substantial improvement in dental health over a 2-year period. However, there were clear benefits in relation to dental health knowledge, attitudes and toothbrushing skills among these mothers. © EBD 2004.