Prevalence and Severity of Molar Incisor Hypomineralization in Students of Belém, Brazil

If Silva Júnior,Nl Aguiar,Dc Arantes,Ls Nascimento,Ls Silva,Wrc Barros

doi:10.4034/pboci.2015.151.40

Abstract

Objective: To measure the prevalence of Molar Incisor Hypomineralization (MIH), its severity and association with dental caries among public school children from Belem/PA, Brazil. Material and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted with children enrolled in three public schools of Belem, which were selected by simple random sampling. MIH diagnosis was carried out according to criteria of the European Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Results: Among the 260 students that met the inclusion criteria, 56.92% were male and 43.07% female. The average age was 10.22 years. Of these, 8.84% (n = 23) had MIH, but there was no statistically significant difference in this prevalence between sexes (p = 0.6244). The most affected teeth were the upper first permanent molars, followed by lower first permanent molars and upper permanent central incisors. About 43.48% of students had at least one tooth with severe defect in enamel and 30.43% of students with MIH presented dental caries in the affected teeth. Conclusion: Severe MIH was not the most prevalent among schoolchildren, but the relationship with dental caries found demonstrates the importance of knowledge about diagnosis and treatment of enamel defects, which should be part of promotion and prevention actions in oral health due to its epidemiological impact in the demographic change of dental caries.

Highlights

The demographic transition of dental caries has shown a drop in prevalence, especially in the younger population
In Brazil, of children under 12 years of age, 31% were free from dental caries in 2003, in 2010, this number rose to 44%, which means that 1.4 million of children are free from dental caries in that period [1]
The selection of schools was through simple random sampling, processed by the BioEstat 5.0 software, according to the listing of students provided by the management of schools and considering a sample previously stipulated by researchers of 300 students, 100 of each school since the European Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (EAPD) recommends that for Molar Incisor Hypomineralization (MIH) diagnosis in epidemiological studies, at least 100 people should be examined [23]

Summary

Introduction

The demographic transition of dental caries has shown a drop in prevalence, especially in the younger population. There is a high prevalence of changes in enamel formation [24]. The International Dental Federation (IDF) ranks enamel defects into two categories: hypoplasia and hypomineralization [5]. The period of amelogenesis in which aggression to ameloblasts occurs has great significance to the damage appearance and location [6,7]. Hypoplasia is defined as quantitative enamel defects where there is involvement of the tooth surface and aggression occurred in the secretory phase of the enamel matrix formation. Hypomineralization or opacities are characterized by qualitative enamel defects occurring in its maturation phase [8]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion