Abstract
Dental caries is a chronic disease that can be influenced by a multitude of factors. Poor oral hygiene and unhealthy eating habits are the most incriminating factors in the onset of dental caries, but age has been proven to impact the disease. The aim of this study was to find correlations between age and the evolution of dental caries in the first permanent molars in children. The retrospective study was conducted based on 400 panoramic radiographs, belonging to Romanian children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. All first permanent molars were investigated, and the carious lesions were classified according to their depth. The chronological age was calculated by subtracting the patient’s date of birth from the date when the radiograph was performed, while for the assessment of dental age, the Demirjian method was used. The gender of the patients did not significantly influence the number of superficial, medium, and deep carious lesions. Most of the identified carious lesions were superficial. Regarding correlations between age and dental caries, there was an association between the decrease in the chronological age and the increase in the number of superficial carious lesions on the first permanent molars and also an association between the increase in the chronological age or dental age and the increase in the number of medium and deep carious lesions on the first permanent molars. Age can impact the development of dental caries in first permanent molars.
Highlights
Dental caries is a multifactorial disease [1] and the most commonly diagnosed chronic disease in children [2]
The aim of this study was to establish if chronological age and dental age have any influence on the occurrence of dental caries in first permanent molars in a sample of
The panoramic radiographs excluded from the study belonged to uncooperative patients whose behavior did not allow the completion of a proper panoramic radiograph resulting in an unclear radiographic image, patients from other countries, patients with local or general pathologies that could influence the eruption of permanent teeth, and patients who had at least one missing erupted or unerupted permanent tooth in the lower left dental arch
Summary
Dental caries is a multifactorial disease [1] and the most commonly diagnosed chronic disease in children [2]. It remains a major public health problem in most industrialized countries [3]. Despite its high global prevalence and negative impact on people [2], it is a widely neglected public health issue [4]. Poor oral hygiene [5] and unhealthy eating habits [6] are the most common incriminating factors in the onset and development of tooth decay, but factors such as low socioeconomic status, low level of education, or even orthodontic treatment, have been shown to be important in predicting the prevalence of caries [7,8]. The evolution is fast, with appropriate treatment ranging from minimally invasive methods [10,11] to treatments performed under general anesthesia [9,12]
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