PENGARUH FAKTOR RISIKO KARIES TERHADAP TINGKAT KEBERSIAN GIGI PASCA PERAWATAN TOPICAL APPLICATION FLUOR (TAF) PADA ANAK BAWAH LIMA TAHUN (BALITA)

Caries can affect the mastication function and trigger a reducing food intake
which can obstruct children’s growth and development process. Caries is caused
by the microorganism activities in the plaque, resulting in hard teeth tissue
demineralization which is followed by damage to the teeth’s organic material. Risk indicator is a factor or circumstance that is not directly related to the disease. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry has adopted the Caries Risk
Assessment Tool (CAT) in their caries risk assessment policy. Plaque Control
Record is one of the most commonly used methods to calculate plaque scores. Caries can be prevented with fluoride, such as by applying the Topical
Application Fluor (TAF).The purpose of this research is to determine the
differences in plaque index before and after TAF treatment and the effect of caries
risk factors on plaque index in children under five years old (toddlers).This is a
clinical experimental research. Total sampling technique was used to collect the
samples of 56 children in several kindergartens in Yogyakarta. The caries risk
category was assessed based on questionnaires according to AAPD and the plaque
index used in this research was the one from the O’Leary plaque index. The data
were then analyzed using the Wilcoxon test and followed by the
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The Wilcoxon test shows a value of 0.000. It means
that there is a significant difference before and after the TAF treatment in children
under five years old. Furthermore, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test shows a value of
0.371. It means that there is no effect of caries risk factors on the plaque index in
children under five years old.