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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Background: Measuring oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is a person-centered approach to investigating oral health. Proxy reports by parents or caregivers were used for assessing children's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for decades. Using appropriate questionnaire techniques, it has become possible to get valid and reliable information from children about 8 years of age. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate the OHRQoL of 8–10-year-old Libyan schoolchildren from viewpoints of both the children and their parents, in order to evaluate the concordance between child and parent ratings. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using a representative sample of 303 8–10-year-old Libyan schoolchildren. Data were collected using Arabic versions of the Child Perception Questionnaire for 8–10-year-old children (CPQ8–10) and the Parent-caregiver Perception Questionnaire (P-CPQ8). Participants were examined for both traumatic dental injuries (TDI) and dental caries. Questions about the mother's and father's educational levels and current occupations were also asked, along with information on the child's age and sex. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows, version 25.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA). The alpha value was 0.05. Results: The mean CPQ8–10 score was 3.5 ± 4.2 (range: 0–18) overall, and those who had had caries experience or a TDI had higher CPQ8–10 scores, on average. The mean P-CPQ8 score was 7.5 ± 5.4 (range 0–27), and there were no apparent differences by parental education or employment status. The association between child and parental ratings of the children's OHRQoL was weak. The parents overestimated OHRQoL relative to their children's self-assessments. Conclusions: There is relatively low agreement between Libyan children and parents in their responses to OHRQoL scales, particularly in cases where that impact is greater. Where possible, if the aim is to obtain a more complete picture of the impact of a child's oral state on his/her life, both child and parental reports should be used.

Background: Oral health has a key role in the public health and well-being, dental caries is the most common oral disease in the world. The first permanent molar (FPMs) has been introduced as an index for predicting caries activity. Aim: To compare the dental caries incidences of FPMs among two age group's children in Benghazi city, Libya. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted of 375 children aged 6-12 years. The sample was divided into two groups according their ages, Group A, which included 150 children with age ranging between 6 to 8 years old. While group B which involved 225 children with age ranged from 9 to 12 years old. The diagnosis of caries was based on the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS, version 16 and Chi-square test was used. Results: In group A, the frequency of carious FPMs were (186 teeth; 12.4%), whereas sounds were (414 teeth; 27.6%). However in group B, the frequency of sound FPMs were (411 teeth; 27.4%), while carious were (489 teeth; 32.6%). A significant difference was found between the two age groups regarding caries incidence (P< 0.0001). The incidence of carious molars in group B was higher in the lower left jaw (9.4%). Conclusion: Significant differences were found between two groups regarding caries incidence of FPMs. However, the highest rate of carious FPMs was found in group B, thus caries incidences of FPMs is increased as age increased, A significant difference (P< 0.05) was found between two groups regarding the distributions of caries in the different segment of dental arch. Recommendation: FPMs are very important teeth for maintaining integrity of the dental arches. However, the incidences of caries in FPMs were increased with the age. Therefore, it is recommended that it necessary to pay careful preventive strategies involving fissure sealant, home care and fluoride applications. In addition, promote the educational programmers' for parents.