Strategi Pencegahan Karies Gigi pada Anak Sekolah Dasar melalui Pemanfaatan Bahan Pangan Lokal di Desa Bagan Serdang Kecamatan Pantai Labu

Abstract

In Indonesia, caries in children placed first as the chronic disease that most affected school-age children. According to Basic Health Research (RISKESDAS) 2018, the caries prevalence in Indonesia reached 88.8 percent with a DMF-T index score of 7.1. The caries prevalence in primary school children in Bagan Serdang Village was very high, reaching 81.18 percent. Food that contains calcium can prevent demineralization and thus is able to halt caries formation. Bagan Serdang Village is a producer of rebon shrimps and dry rebon shrimps contain 2.306 mg calcium, which is equal to 16 times the calcium in 100 grams of cow’s milk. The aim of this study was to formulate a strategy to prevent caries in primary school children through local food utilization in Bagan Serdang Village, Pantai Labu District. This study was conducted in four stages: 1. Analysis of oral health problems including: caries prevalence, caries experience in deciduous and permanent teeth, caries risk factor assessment using the Kariogram software, and measurement of calcium ion concentration in the primary school children’s saliva using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS), 2. Measurement of nutrition values of wet and dry rebon shrimps from Bagan Serdang Village in Research Institute for Standardization and Industrial Terrain (Baristand) Medan, 3. Manufacturing of rebon shrimp crackers and analysis of nutrition value in crackers using Nutry Survey Software, 4. Analysis of rebon shrimp effectivity on calcium ion concentration in saliva. The study was a quasi-experimental with a pre and post-test control group design, in which one group was given the intervention of rebon shrimp crackers while the other group was not given any rebon shrimp crackers. The samples were 60 students from Bagan Serdang Public Elementary School 106448 aged 8-12 years that were divided into two groups. Measurement of salivary calcium ion concentration was conducted before and after the intervention using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer in Universitas Sumatera Utara Integrated Research Laboratory. Results showed the prevalence of tooth caries was 81.18 percent, the caries experience of deciduous teeth was 3.02±2.79 and the caries experience of permanent teeth was 0.80±2.79, the risk factor of caries incidence was considered high (54.1%), and salivary calcium ion concentration was in the low category 0.75±0.32 mmol/L. The amount of calcium in rebon shrimps from Bagan Serdang Village in wet rebon shrimps was 1.54 percent (w/w) and in dry rebon shrimps was 1.50 percent (w/w). Rebon shrimp crackers that were produced contained a high amount of calcium, in which in one gram of rebon shrimp crackers contained 6.32 grams of calcium. Rebon shrimp crackers were effective in increasing salivary calcium ion concentration in primary school children (p=0.0001). Food or snacks that contained calcium supported calcium ion exchange from food to saliva, causing salivary pH to increase and preventing demineralization as well as reducing caries incidence. Utilization of rebon shrimp as a local food source could become the strategy to reduce tooth caries in primary school children.