Abstract
Objective. There is a change in the trends and distribution of dental caries in established and nonestablished market economies. The aim of this study was to describe caries distribution, prevalence, and treatment needs among school children in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Materials and Methods. The study was a cross-sectional survey of students between the ages of 12 and 15 years. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and clinical oral examination. Analysis of data was done using statistical package for social science version 20.0. Association between variables was tested using chi-square, independent t-test, and one-way analysis of variance. Results. The study population consisted of 195 school children of mean age 13.21±1.09 years. The prevalence of dental caries was 15.4% (n=30). The mean DMFT score for the entire group was 0.25±0.66. Dental caries occurred more significantly (P<0.005) on the mandible (66.7%) than on the maxilla (33.3%) and was significantly (P<0.005) more prevalent on the first molars (66.7%) than on the second molars (26.6%). Conclusion. The number of untreated dental caries was high and the restorative index was low among the students. The overall caries prevalence and mean DMFT were low even when compared to other studies in similar populations in Nigeria.
Highlights
World Dental Federation (FDI) and World Health organization (WHO) in 1982 developed the global goal for oral health by the year 2000 as a strategy for the promotion of oral health globally [1]
This became necessary because of the global burden of oral diseases. This includes dental caries, periodontal diseases, edentulism, oral mucosa lesions, oral lesions in human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS (HIV/AIDS), and orodental trauma [2, 3]. The objectives of this global goal were to reduce the prevalence of dental caries such that 50% of 5-6 year olds would be caries free, the global mean DMFT should not be more than 3 at the age of 12, and 85% of the population should have all their teeth in the mouth at the age of 18
This study reported a mean DMFT of 3.5; this is higher than those reported among school children in Nigeria [10,11,12,13,14,15]
Summary
World Dental Federation (FDI) and World Health organization (WHO) in 1982 developed the global goal for oral health by the year 2000 as a strategy for the promotion of oral health globally [1]. This became necessary because of the global burden of oral diseases This includes dental caries, periodontal diseases, edentulism, oral mucosa lesions, oral lesions in human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS (HIV/AIDS), and orodental trauma [2, 3]. The objectives of this global goal were to reduce the prevalence of dental caries such that 50% of 5-6 year olds would be caries free, the global mean DMFT should not be more than 3 at the age of 12, and 85% of the population should have all their teeth in the mouth at the age of 18. A review of these goals in 2000 revealed that while these goals were achieved or even exceeded in some countries, it was an unrealizable dream for most countries [4]
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