The Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice

Register      Login

SEARCH WITHIN CONTENT

FIND ARTICLE

Volume / Issue

Online First

Archive
Related articles

VOLUME 9 , ISSUE 3 ( March, 2008 ) > List of Articles

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Caries Prevalence, Severity, and Pattern in Preschool Children

Amjad H. Wyne

Citation Information : Wyne AH. Caries Prevalence, Severity, and Pattern in Preschool Children. J Contemp Dent Pract 2008; 9 (3):24-31.

DOI: 10.5005/jcdp-9-3-24

License: CC BY-NC 3.0

Published Online: 01-09-2009

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2008; The Author(s).


Abstract

Aim

To determine caries prevalence, severity, and pattern in preschool children of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Methods and Materials

A total of 789 randomly selected preschool children, 379 (48%) male and 410 (52%) female, with mean age of 4.7 (SD 0.5) years were examined for dental caries using World Health Organization (WHO) diagnostic criteria.

Results

The overall caries prevalence among the sample was 74.8%. The mean decayed, missing, and filled (dmft) score was 6.1 (SD 3.9) with a decay component of 4.66, a missing component of 0.54, and a filled component of 0.92. There was no significant difference (p>.05) in caries prevalence and severity in relation to gender of the children. However, the caries prevalence and severity were significantly higher (p<.05) among children from government preschools as compared to those from private preschools. Among the posterior teeth, mandibular second molars (54.3%), and among anterior teeth, maxillary central incisors (27.9%) had the highest caries prevalence. Among the molars, caries prevalence was generally high in lower molars while among the anterior teeth, upper teeth generally had a higher caries prevalence. The majority of the children (50.3%) had both posterior and anterior tooth caries, 42.2% had posterior tooth caries only, while very few (7.5%) children had only anterior tooth caries.

Conclusion

Caries prevalence and severity are very high in the study population, and most children have posterior tooth caries.

Clinical Significance

Early measures such as fissure sealants, topical fluoride applications (as early as safely possible), and dietary fluoride supplements (where indicated) are needed to prevent caries of deciduous molars in high caries populations.

Citation

Wyne AH. Caries Prevalence, Severity, and Pattern in Preschool Children. J Contemp Dent Pract 2008 March; (9)3:024-031.


PDF Share
  1. Caries prevalence in 2.5 year-old children. Caries Res 1993; 27:505-510.
  2. National diet and nutrition survey: children aged 1.5 to 4.5 years. Volume 2: Report of the dental survey. London (UK): HMSO; 1995. p 18.
  3. Cares and associated factors in a group of Swedish children 2-3 years of age. Swed Dent J 2006; 30:137-147.
  4. Oral health inequalities in preschool children in North-Eastern Italy as reflected by caries prevalence. Eur J Paediatr Dent 2007; 8:13-18.
  5. Alternative treatment strategies for carious primary teeth: an overview of the evidence. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 2006; 7:73-80.
  6. Caries experience in preschool children referred for specialist dental care in hospital. Aust Dent J 2006; 51:124-129.
  7. Dental health of 5-year-old children in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 1991; 19:308-309.
  8. Dental health in suburban Jordanian preschool children. Swed Dent J 1993; 17:123-127.
  9. The relationship between diet and dental caries in 2 and 4 year old children in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Saudi Dent J 2000; 12:149-155.
  10. Caries prevalence, severity and pattern in preschool children. Saudi Med J 2002; 23:580-584.
  11. Prevalence and patterns of caries, rampant caries, and oral health in two- to five-year-old children in Saudi Arabia. J Dent Child 2003; 70:235-242.
  12. Dental health status and caries pattern of preschool children in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Med J 2003; 24:1347-1351.
  13. Caries prevalence and pattern in Saudi preschoolers. J Dent Res J 1996;75:360. Abstract 2739.
  14. Fluoride levels in drinking water in the central province of Saudi Arabia. Ann Saudi Med 2003; 23:37-40.
  15. Directorate General for Training and Education, Riyadh Region. Ministry of Training and Education. Personal Communication. January 2007.
  16. Introductory Statistics. 2nd ed. Reading Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1986:321.
  17. Oral Health Surveys: Basic Methods. 3rd ed. Geneva: WHO; 1997.
  18. Prevalence pattern of dental caries in the primary dentition among school children. Indian J Dent Res 2005; 16:140-146.
  19. Dental caries experience and factors among preschoolers in southeastern Mexico: a brief communication. J Public Health Dent 2006; 66:88-91.
  20. Prevalence of early childhood caries in 3- to 5-year-old children in Philadelphia district, Mpumalanga Province. SADJ 2006; 61:390-392.
  21. Caries in preschool children and its risk factors in 2 provinces in China. Quintessence Int 2007; 38:143-151.
  22. Caries prevalence and caries susceptibility of individual deciduous teeth. Adv Fluorine Res 1966;107-112.
  23. J Am Dent Assoc 1969; 79:1405-1414.
  24. Caries experience in the primary dentition of Tanzanian and Finnish 3-7 year old children. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 1991; 19:272-276.
  25. Cross-sectional comparisons of caries time trends in nursery school children in Sendai, Japan. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 1995; 23:344-349.
  26. Caries pattern in primary molars in Dutch 5-year-old children. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 2006; 7:236-240.
  27. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 1989; 17:34-37.
  28. Early childhood caries: a review. Indian J Dent Res 1996; 7:7-15.
  29. Caries pattern of high caries preschool children attending a dental clinic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Dent J 1998; 10:80-85.
  30. The relationship between caries in the primary dentition at 5 years of age and permanent dentition at 10 years of age – a longitudinal study. Int J Paediatr Dent 2006; 16:152-160.
  31. Progression of proximal caries in children with different caries indices: a 4-year radiographic study. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 2006; 7:148-152.
  32. Early childhood caries: a challenge to health care professionals. Emirates Med J 1997; 15:5-11.
  33. Effect of nursing caries on body weight in a body weight in a pediatric population. Ped Dent 1992;14:302-305.
PDF Share
PDF Share

© Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) LTD.