Objective: To show the compliance over 4 successive attendances at one of the clinics of the Preventive Odontology Unit (POU) in Health Area 8 of the Community of Valencia.
Design: A descriptive longitudinal study.
Setting: Unit of Preventive Odontology, Area 8. Community of Valencia.
Participants: Children between 8 and 14 attending one of the POU clinics for any reason.
Measurements and main results: Findings from a sample of 957 clinical histories selected from the 3,500 at one of the POU clinics were as follows. Highest compliance corresponded to children with an appointment 6 months later (66.42%), followed by 3 months later (64.17%) and 12 months later (43.09%). The three-month compliance level was similar for all age-groups. In the six-month group compliance dropped below 50% in 13-14 year olds. At 12 months, compliance was low in the three groups, only being above 50% in the 11-12 age group.
Conclusions: Higher compliance was found in children with appointments at 6 and 3 months (medium and high risk, respectively) than in those with appointments at a year (low risk). Greatest drop in follow-up occurred at the first check-up.