Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2012 May;22(3):169-79.
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-263X.2011.01188.x. Epub 2011 Oct 17.

Mother and youth access (MAYA) maternal chlorhexidine, counselling and paediatric fluoride varnish randomized clinical trial to prevent early childhood caries

Francisco J Ramos-Gomez  1 , Stuart A Gansky, John D B Featherstone, Bonnie Jue, Rocio Gonzalez-Beristain, William Santo, Ed Martinez, Jane A Weintraub
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Mother and youth access (MAYA) maternal chlorhexidine, counselling and paediatric fluoride varnish randomized clinical trial to prevent early childhood caries

Francisco J Ramos-Gomez et al. Int J Paediatr Dent. 2012 May.

Abstract

Background: Mexican-American children have a higher caries prevalence than the U.S. average. The Mothers and Youth Access (MAYA) study was a randomized clinical trial initiated to address this problem.

Aim: Comparison of the efficacy of two prevention interventions in reducing early childhood caries (ECC).

Design: All 361 randomized mother-child dyads received oral health counselling. Beginning at 4 months postpartum, intervention mothers received chlorhexidine (CHX) mouthrinse for 3 months beginning 4 months postpartum and children received fluoride varnish (FV) every 6 months from age 12-36 months. Control group children received FV if precavitated lesions developed. Salivary mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli were assessed.

Results: No significant difference in children's 36-month caries incidence between groups; 34% in each group developed caries [(d(2+) fs) > 0]. About half of control group developed precavitated lesions and received therapeutic FV. Maternal MS levels declined during CHX use, but increased when discontinued.

Conclusions: Maternal postpartum CHX regimen, oral health counselling and preventive child FV applications were not more efficacious than maternal counselling with child therapeutic FV for precavitated lesions for ECC prevention. FV for young children with brief maternal CHX use and oral health counselling may need to be combined with additional or longer-term therapies to significantly reduce ECC in high-risk populations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Interests: There are no conflicts of interest for any of the contributing author

Figures

Illustration 1
Illustration 1
MAY A Flowchart
Illustration 2
Illustration 2
Maternal MS Levels
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Vargas CM, Crall JJ, Schneider DA. Sociodemographic distribution of pediatric dental caries: NHANES III, 1988–1994. J Am Dent Assoc. 1998;129(9):1229–38. - PubMed
    1. Poland C, 3rd, Hale KJ. Providing oral health to the little ones. J Indiana Dent Assoc. 2003;82(4):8–14. - PubMed
    1. Dye BA, Tan S, Smith V, et al. Trends in oral health status: United States, 1988–1994 and 1999–2004. Vital Health Stat. 2007;11(248):1–92. - PubMed
    1. Ramos-Gomez F, Crall J, Slayton R, et al. Caries risk assessment appropriate for the age one visit. CDA Journal. 2007;35(10):689–702. - PubMed
    1. Dental Health Foundation. “Mommy, It Hurts to Chew” The California Smile Survey, an Oral Health Assessment of California’s Kindergarten and 3rd Grade Children. 2006.

Publication types

MeSH terms