Abstract
This research aimed to study dental nurses’ satisfaction and effectiveness of moisture control innovation (for tongue and cheek retractor, and saliva contamination (SS-suction)), toward dental sealant service without dental assistants compared to standard service; moisture control with cotton roll and dental assistant. This study was randomized controlled trial implemented among 15 dental nurses who attended a workshop on using SS-suction, recording satisfaction data toward using and safety, recording students’ data and revised dental sealing technic. Dental nurses received SS-suctions and then provided sealant service to 482 children aged 6–8 years old at sub-district health-promoting hospitals. Children were simply randomly allocated into either experimental or control groups. The children in the experiment group were 244, and in the control group, 238. Data collection on dental nurses’ characteristics, satisfaction with SS-suction for each sealed tooth during service. At 15-18 months, sealed teeth were assessed for retention and caries. Quality control for data collection was the validity and reliability of the satisfaction questionnaire and calibration on sealant retention examination. The results showed the median satisfaction level for SS-suction use was 9 out of 10, and the percentage of children with pain during insertion or removal was 17–18. The pain was from a feeling of pressure and disappeared when the suction was in place. Retention and caries were not significantly different between the experiment and control groups. Full retention on the occlusal surface were 32.5% and 31.4% and on the buccal surface were 16.8 and 18.3 in the experiment and control groups, respectively. Caries on the occlusal surface were 26.6% and 27.6% and those on buccal surface were 35.4 and 36.2 in the experiment and control groups. In conclusion, dental nurses were satisfied with SS-Suction both in function and safety. The effectiveness at 15–18 months of SS-Suction was compatible with standard procedure.
