Abstract

Introduction: Dental caries is the most common oral disease in all age groups. Being more and more frequent in preschool and school-age children, it has become one of the most important problems in oral pathology. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of dental caries in schoolchildren aged 12 and 15 years in the northern part of Kosovo and Metohija, as well as to inform them about the importance of oral health. Materials and Methods: The study included 626 schoolchildren of both sexes from five schools from the municipalities of Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan and Leposavic. Klein-Palmer DMFT system (D-Decayed, M-Missing, F-filled) was used to estimate the prevalence of dental caries the following indices were also used: Person Caries Index, Teeth Caries Index, Average Caries Index and DMFT structure. All the selected children were examined using standard dental diagnostic agents. Tooth surfaces were examined dry under artificial lighting. Results: The average value of DMFT index for children aged 12 and 15 years was 4.2. On average, 92.3% of the examined children had caries. The mean value of caries index was 15.11%.Conclusion: After these new epidemiological studies, it can be concluded that the state of children's oral health, considering the high levels of untreated caries and all other features of DMFT index, is not satisfactory. This situation points to the necessity of applying modern preventive and prophylactic measures to preserve and improve the population oral health.

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