Aim: to assess prevalence and severity of dental caries (DMFT for permanent dentition and dmft for primary dentition) among Libyan children. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study including a random sample of 372 children was conducted in Benghazi. Experience of dental caries was assessed by decayed, missing, and filled teeth DMFT and dmft indices using WHO criteria of diagnosing dental caries. The data were entered and managed by using SPSS software version 25. Descriptive analysis of the data including frequencies, percentages and means of school-children's decayed, missing and filled components was performed. Results: Overall dental caries prevalence was 86.6%. The mean DMFT and dmft indices were 0.86 and 2.78 for all 372 subjects amongst which major contributor was decayed component. Considering only subjects with caries experience (322), mean DMFT and dmft indices were 1.00 and 3.21, respectively. Higher prevalence of dmft scores was observed than DMFT scores in all subjects and in subjects with caries experience. For all subjects DMFT, the Decay index was 89.5%, Missing index was 3.5% and Care index was 6.7%. For all subjects dmft, the Decay index was 89.9%, Missing index was 7.9% and Care index was 2.1%. Conclusions: Caries prevalence was high considering the World Health Organization future oral health goals. Although the prevalence in the study sample is high, Care index is unacceptably low. The findings stress on the need to treat the children at the initial stages of caries development with preventive approaches. Providing and implementing preventive and educational programs for controlling dental caries are necessary.

Aims: To investigate any association between the experience of dental caries and its potential risk factors in Libyan schoolchildren and to investigate any gender differences for these factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among schoolchildren in Benghazi. A random sample of 8-10-year-old children underwent dental examination. Data on dietary habits, oral hygiene practices, parents’ educational levels were obtained by a survey. Dental caries was assessed using WHO recommendations. The data were entered and managed by using SPSS software version 25. Results: For the whole sample (372) caries prevalence was 86.6%. The experience of caries increased with increasing the frequency of sugared dietary items consumption. This was not statistically significant association. Of the sample; 37.9% who had experience of caries consumed sugared dietary items with frequency of twice per day, 28.0% with frequency once per day, and 18.0% with frequency of two or three times per week. The experience of caries decreased with increasing the frequency of tooth brushing; 21.90% of the subjects with caries reported frequency of tooth brushing of two or more per day, 32.30% with frequency of once per day. Girls reported a higher frequency of tooth brushing than boys. The experience of caries decreased with parents’ increasing educational level. Conclusions: The present findings have important implications for public health strategy and further studies. More research is also necessary to explore the effectiveness of various interventions whether diet or oral hygiene practice or parents’ educational levels in experience of caries in children from different social and cultural backgrounds.

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