Prevalence of dental caries in 5 and 12-years-old schoolchildren from two Brazilian capitals

Abstract

Introduction: Tooth decay is still a highly prevalent disease in populations. Because of this, epidemiological studies are carried out frequently and allow the monitoring of the experience of the disease. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of dental caries of 5 and 12-years-old schoolchildren in the cities of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, and Porto Velho, Rondônia, as well as to search hypotheses of association with social/economic determinants and access to dental services. Material and methods: Secondary data were used from the Brazilian Oral Health Survey of 2010, as follows: household income by city and dmft/DMFT index for ages by city and region of Brazil. Results: It was observed in the city of Florianópolis a 5-years-old dmft of 1.56, and 12-years-old DMFT of 0.55. In Porto Velho the means were 2.89 and 4.15 to the respective age. It was found that in Porto Velho 89.5% of surveyed had family income up to R$2,500.00, while in Florianópolis 81.9% had R$501.00 to R$9,500.00. Conclusion: The city of Florianópolis had the best caries indices and socioeconomic conditions, suggesting an association between these variables, in detriment to the regions in the opposite situation.