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CompletedNCT04632667Updated Jul 8, 2025

CATCH Healthy Smiles:An Elementary School Oral Health Intervention Trial

An interventional study of Comparison School Group and Intervention School Group in Caries,Dental, sponsored by The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 5 Years to 9 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-07-08.

Sponsored by The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
1,084
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
5 Years to 9 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to clinically evaluate the effects of a school-based behavioral intervention, CATCH Healthy Smiles, to reduce the risk of dental caries in a cohort of kindergarten through 2nd grade (K-2) children serving low-income, ethnically-diverse children,to determine the impact of CATCH Healthy Smiles on child behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental outcomes beginning in K through 2nd grade, compared to children in the control schools and to examine the extent to which the child behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental factors mediate the improvements in child caries risk.

02

Conditions studied

  • Caries,Dental

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03

In context

Dental Caries

1,109 studies on the registry are indexed under Dental Caries; 197 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 1,084 is above the median of 60 across 916 interventional studies indexed under Dental Caries.

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Lead sponsor

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston is the lead sponsor of 880 studies on the registry; 209 are open to participants now.

Of its 170 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 140 (82%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
5 Years to 9 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

For schools:

  • greater than 75% of the children enrolled in the dree/reduced school lunch program.
  • enrolling children in grade K in the 2021-2022 school year.
  • agree to implement the CATCH Healthy Smiles program and agreed to participate in the measurements

For parent and child to participate in the measures:

  • ability of the parent to speak and read in English or Spanish at the 4th grade level,
  • child enrolled in the participating school in grade K in the 2021-2022 school year
  • child ability to participate in the regular activities at the school

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

-No congenital dental conditions such as cleft palate, children with enamel hypoplasia, severe fluorosis, or special dental setting needs.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Investigator)
Enrollment
1,084 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Comparison School Group

    Behavioral: Comparison School Group

  • Experimental
    Intervention School Group

    Behavioral: Intervention School Group

Interventions

  • BehavioralComparison School Group

    All control schools will receive training and materials for the CATCH sun safety curriculum. Ray and the Sunbeatables®: A Sun Safety Curriculum is an evidence-based curriculum educates children, parents and teachers about sun protection and promotes sun safety behaviors in an effort to reduce children's lifetime risk of developing skin cancer. Training will be conducted with booster trainings yearly.

  • BehavioralIntervention School Group

    This intervention includes toothbrushing which will be implemented as a daily activity to develop skills and technique,classroom curriculum, which includes theory-based interactive lessons on oral health care,the physical education component consisting of an activity box containing different structured physical activities that will integrate the nutrition and oral health education messages, all cafeteria-based intervention materials including the "tooth friendly" Eat Smart guide, signage, nutrition labeling, menu planning and labeling using the tooth-friendly Go-Slow-Whoa CATCH terminology will be provided to the food service staff that is displayed across the cafeteria and sent home to parents and parents will be provided with tools and tips for maintaining oral health with website resources,parent-child homework activities, send-home infographics on dental care, parent-monitored tracking of child oral health,family fun nights in schools, and social media.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of tooth and tooth surfaces that became decayed or were treated for dental caries (by filling or extraction)

    Time frame: Baseline(beginning of kindergarten)

  2. Number of tooth and tooth surfaces that became decayed or were treated for dental caries (by filling or extraction)

    Time frame: end of year 1(Kindergarten)

  3. Number of tooth and tooth surfaces that became decayed or were treated for dental caries (by filling or extraction)

    Time frame: end of year 2(first grade)

  4. number of tooth and tooth surfaces that became decayed or were treated for dental caries (by filling or extraction)

    Time frame: end of year 3( second grade)

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of children with good oral hygiene as measured by the child plaque index

    The plaque score will be measured using the plaque index of Silness and Loe. Six teeth will be examined for presence of plaque/ materia alba and food remnants and calculus. The index will be a numerical score (0-3) as follows: 0 = No Debris or stain; 1 = Soft debris or stain covering no more than 1/3 of tooth surface; 2 = Soft debris or stain covering more than 1/3 of tooth surface and less than 2/3 of tooth surface; 3 = Soft debris or stain covering more than 2/3 of tooth surface.

    Time frame: Baseline

  2. Number of children with good oral hygiene as measured by the child plaque index

    The plaque score will be measured using the plaque index of Silness and Loe. Six teeth will be examined for presence of plaque/ materia alba and food remnants and calculus. The index will be a numerical score (0-3) as follows: 0 = No Debris or stain; 1 = Soft debris or stain covering no more than 1/3 of tooth surface; 2 = Soft debris or stain covering more than 1/3 of tooth surface and less than 2/3 of tooth surface; 3 = Soft debris or stain covering more than 2/3 of tooth surface.

    Time frame: end of year 1 about 9 months form start of intervention

  3. Number of children with good oral hygiene as measured by the child plaque index

    The plaque score will be measured using the plaque index of Silness and Loe. Six teeth will be examined for presence of plaque/ materia alba and food remnants and calculus. The index will be a numerical score (0-3) as follows: 0 = No Debris or stain; 1 = Soft debris or stain covering no more than 1/3 of tooth surface; 2 = Soft debris or stain covering more than 1/3 of tooth surface and less than 2/3 of tooth surface; 3 = Soft debris or stain covering more than 2/3 of tooth surface.

    Time frame: end of year 2 about 23 months from start of intervention

  4. Number of children with good oral hygiene as measured by the child plaque index

    The plaque score will be measured using the plaque index of Silness and Loe. Six teeth will be examined for presence of plaque/ materia alba and food remnants and calculus. The index will be a numerical score (0-3) as follows: 0 = No Debris or stain; 1 = Soft debris or stain covering no more than 1/3 of tooth surface; 2 = Soft debris or stain covering more than 1/3 of tooth surface and less than 2/3 of tooth surface; 3 = Soft debris or stain covering more than 2/3 of tooth surface.

    Time frame: end of year 3 about 33 months form start of intervention

  5. Child dietary intake as measured by the Block food frequency screener

    This tools helps to find out how many times a week different kinds of food was consumed and how much quantity of food was consumed each day

    Time frame: Baseline

  6. Child dietary intake as measured by the Block food frequency screener

    This tools helps to find out how many times a week different kinds of food was consumed and how much quantity of food was consumed each day

    Time frame: end of year 1

  7. Child dietary intake as measured by the Block food frequency screener

    This tools helps to find out how many times a week different kinds of food was consumed and how much quantity of food was consumed each day

    Time frame: end of year 2

  8. Child dietary intake as measured by the Block food frequency screener

    This tools helps to find out how many times a week different kinds of food was consumed and how much quantity of food was consumed each day

    Time frame: end of year 3

  9. Child and parent behavioral, psychosocial and environmental factors will be measured using self-report surveys

    Time frame: Baseline

  10. Child and parent behavioral, psychosocial and environmental factors will be measured using self-report surveys

    Time frame: end of year 1 about 9 months from start of intervention

  11. Child and parent behavioral, psychosocial and environmental factors will be measured using self-report surveys

    Time frame: End of year 2 about 23 months from start of intervention

  12. Child and parent behavioral, psychosocial and environmental factors will be measured using self-report surveys

    Time frame: End of year 3 about 33 months from start of intervention

  13. Number of times a child brushes their teeth a day

    Time frame: Baseline

  14. Number of times a child brushes their teeth a day

    Time frame: end of year 1 about 9 months from start of intervention

  15. Number of times a child brushes their teeth a day

    Time frame: End of year 2 about 23 months from start of intervention

  16. Number of times a child brushes their teeth a day

    Time frame: End of year 3 about 33 months from start of intervention

  17. Change in Body Mass Index (BMI)

    Child height and weight measured at the school using stadiometers and digital scales respectively.

    Time frame: baseline, end of Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3

  18. Change in Child Oral health quality of life measured using parent self-report surveys

    Time frame: baseline, end of Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3

  19. Frequency of flossing teeth for the child measured using parent self-report surveys

    Time frame: Baseline

  20. Frequency of flossing teeth for the child measured using parent self-report surveys

    Time frame: end of year 1

  21. Frequency of flossing teeth for the child measured using parent self-report surveys

    Time frame: end of year 2

  22. Frequency of flossing teeth for the child measured using parent self-report surveys

    Time frame: end of year 3

07

Study locations

1 site
  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
    Houston, Texas 77030, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Chuang RJ, Byrd-Williams C, Yamal JM, Johnson K, Kelder S, Nelson S, Mofleh D, Sharma SV. Design for a cluster randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effects of the CATCH Healthy Smiles school-based oral health promotion intervention among elementary school children. Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2022 Nov 5;30:101033. doi: 10.1016/j.conctc.2022.101033. eCollection 2022 Dec. PubMed 36387989 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 8, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04632667
Lead sponsor
The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Collaborators
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
Responsible party
Shreela V Sharma (Professor, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston) — Principal investigator
First posted
Nov 17, 2020
Start date
Feb 5, 2022
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2025
Completion
Jun 30, 2025
Last update
Jul 8, 2025

Study contacts

Shreela Sharma, PhD
principal investigator · The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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