Validation of Data for Dental Health in the SKaPa Registry for Children and Adolescents

Swedish Quality Registry for dental health care (SKaPa) is a national registry that has since year 2008 gathered dental data. The data is automatically extracted from the patients' electronical dental data records. A vast majority of the public dental health care clinics deliver data on a daily basis (SKaPa, 2013). SKaPa has the purpose to improve and develop the quality of care and patient outcomes for both prevention and reparative/restorative methods concerning caries and periodontal disease. For children and adolescents, it is above all information related to dental caries that is collected (SKaPa, 2013). So far, SKaPa has published seven annual reports. In the report for year 2013 a limited information about the status of children was given, due to uncertainty in the quality of the information that is passed on to SKaPa (SKaPa, 2013). There is therefore a need to examine the validity of the data supplied to SKaPa. Tooth decay is the most common disease in children and adolescents that often lead to invasive interventions and pain. There are reports of great social disparities in dental health in children and adolescents in Sweden (The National Board of Health and Welfare, Socialstyrelsen, 2013). Because tooth decay is a common disease in children, it is important to be able to monitor the occurrence of the disease and also examine how it differs across various groups of children and adolescents. This is now possible through the several registries that are available in the dental and health care. Register-based research will be an important tool to ensure that children and adolescents receive oral health and dental care on the same premise as others, provided the data in the registries are valid. Furthermore, register-based research is important for development and quality assurance of dental care.