This study showed a relatively high prevalence of dental caries. The existing differences of caries experience between the urban and the rural areas as well as between the counties could be influenced by the socioeconomic differences in the country.

BackgroundBased on the hypothesis that biological and social risks accumulate during life, it is important to identify possible dental caries risk indicators from the life course of early childhood and assess their association with caries polarization in adolescence.MethodsA cross-sectional design was applied to the study, and a multistage cluster sampling method used to draw a representative sample of 1063 18-year-old Lithuanian adolescents. The dental examinations were performed according to the methodology for oral status evaluation recommended by the World Health Organization. Parents of the participating adolescents completed a self-administered questionnaire about their children’s life course during early childhood. The interdependence of characteristics was evaluated by chi-square (χ2) and Student’s (t) criteria. A multivariate logistic regression model with the Significant Caries (SiC) index as an outcome was performed.ResultsThe mean scores for the number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) and decayed teeth (DT) in the SiC positive group were higher than the corresponding values in the SiC negative group (6.14 [SD, 2.30] and 1.67 [SD, 2.02] vs 1.28 [SD, 1.11] and 0.34 [SD, 0.69], p < 0.001, respectively). Three dental caries risk indicators were identified that were independently associated with a SiC positive outcome: gender(OR = 1.32 [95 % CI: 1.01–1.73]), earlier eruption of the first primary tooth(OR = 1.43 [95 % CI: 1.03–1.97]), and past caries experience in the primary dentition (OR = 1.62 [95 % CI:1.22–2.14]).ConclusionsThese study findings provide reliable evidence that gender, earlier eruption of the first primary tooth, and past caries experience in the primary dentition should be considered to be dental caries risk indicators and may have an adverse effect on caries polarization in adolescence.

Pieninių dantų ėduonis yra viena dažniausių vaikų lėtinių ligų, ir tai yra globali problema, ypač neišsivysčiusiose ir besivystančiose šalyse, kur vyrauja žemas pragyvenimo lygis bei prasta socioekonominė padėtis. Odontologinės infekcijos, atsirandančios laiku negydant ėduonies pažeistų dantų, daro neigiamą įtaką bendrai vaiko sveikatai, sukelia mitybos problemas, stresą gydant dantis, ugdymo įstaigų nelankymą, vaikai drovisi bendrauti ir žaisti, o ilgainiui negydytas ėduonis sukelia dar daugiau įvairių komplikacijų - dantų skausmą, minkštųjų audinių tinimą, odontogeninį sepsį, nemigą, valgymo sutrikimus, mažą kūno masės indeksą [2, 27]. Pieninių dantų komplikuoto ėduonies gydymo galimybės yra aktuali tema, nes šalyse, kuriose yra didelis ėduonies paplitimas, vaikų pieninių dantų ėduonis dažniausiai yra negydomas. Šiame straipsnyje aptariami konservatyvūs ir radikalūs pieninių dantų komplikuoto ėduonies gydymo metodai, jiems naudojamos medžiagos.