3. Results
caries
DENTAL CARIES, CARIES, RECRUITMENT, CARIES, PLAQUE, REGRESSION
The flow of study participants is shown in Participant recruitment commenced in July 2011 and was completed in December 2013. The first follow-up was from November 2012–August 2015; the second follow-up January 2014–July 2017; the third follow-up July 2016–November 2018. Of the 917 parents who consented to participate and were randomised, 54 did not provide contact details and were unable to be contacted for further follow-ups and were excluded from follow-up analyses. At the final follow-up, 69% of those successfully allocated completed the questionnaire and 66% were examined. Five hundred and fifty-six children were examined at all follow-ups. The majority of the questionnaires were completed by the mother of the child (98%). The mean intervals from baseline to the first follow-up, the second follow-up and third follow-up examinations were 1.7 years (SD 0.7), 3.5 years (SD 0.8), and 5.0 years (SD 0.6), and the mean age at follow-up was 2.0 years (0.7), 3.7 years (0.8). and 5.3 years (0.7), respectively. Ninety-three percent (There were no statistically significant differences between the test and control groups in socio-demographic and psycho-social factors at baseline (Not all items in the questionnaire were completed, hence the number of participants for each factor does not necessarily sum to the number of overall participants A higher proportion of children examined at follow-up and allocated to the control group had no social support to run errands for parents, and the difference was of marginal statistical significance (Characteristics of participants who were followed up and lost to follow-up are shown in Analysis of changes in potential psycho-social mediators of ECC from baseline to the first follow-up is shown in Caries prevalence and experience of participants and plaque levels at each follow-up are shown in Univariable negative binomial regression found a 50% increased risk of caries experience among control children, although it was not statistically significant. There was also a near 3-fold, statistically significant increased risk of caries among children whose parents, at baseline, held a fatalistic attitude about a child experiencing dental caries, IRR = 2.9 (95% CI 1.26–6.68) Multivariable negative binomial regression modelling found a similar level of non-statistically significant increased risk of caries among the control group. Also, a child living in a non-fluoridated, regional community had a 4-fold increased risk of dental caries compared with children living in fluoridated, metropolitan community, 