Abstract
The dental disease burden of periodontitis, gingivitis caries, and fluorosis has to be assessed objectively with patients’ understanding and therefore rationalise planning for oral health resources, utilization, and personnel distribution to tackle the disease burden. The study sought to assess the prevalence of dental fluorosis and the snacking and brushing habits to determine the dental disease burden, among 13-17- year- olds who were affected by dental fluorosis in comparison with those who were not affected with dental fluorosis in Kajiado North District of Kenya. The study cross-section and it compared dental disease burden among two age-matched population groups one with varying degrees of dental fluorosis and the second group without dental fluorosis teeth in primary school children aged between 13-15 years of age. Nine primary schools were randomly selected in Kajiado North County which had been purposively selected. The instruments of examination were a questionnaire on child’s biodata. Disease burden was determined through a clinical examination for each child under natural light. Plaque and gingival scores, dental caries the decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) were, and dental fluorosis was assessed using the Thylstrup Fejerskov index (TFI).
Highlights
The World Health Organization (WHO) statistics indicate that dental caries and periodontitis constitute the most critical global oral health disease burden [1]
In the Kenyan situation, The 13-17 year olds affected by fluorosis may have a combination of other oral diseases like caries and periodontitis, and likewise, those not affected by dental fluorosis may suffer from similar problems
The World Health Organization considers dental as a significant problem in oral health in the industrialized countries, affecting 60-90% of schoolchildren [3]
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) statistics indicate that dental caries and periodontitis constitute the most critical global oral health disease burden [1]. In the Kenyan situation, The 13-17 year olds affected by fluorosis may have a combination of other oral diseases like caries and periodontitis, and likewise, those not affected by dental fluorosis may suffer from similar problems. The World Health Organization considers dental as a significant problem in oral health in the industrialized countries, affecting 60-90% of schoolchildren [3]. A study by Owino showed an overall prevalence of dental caries among 12-year-olds was 50.3% while its prevalence when only the permanent teeth were considered was 44.5% with a mean DMFT of 0.92 ±50 [7]
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