Prevalence of early childhood caries and enamel defects in four and five-year old Qatari preschool children

Abstract

BackgroundDental caries is the most prevalent chronic disease in early childhood in most communities worldwide. Several studies conducted in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have documented a high prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC). To date, no studies have been conducted in Qatar to examine the prevalence of ECC and enamel developmental defects in preschool children. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of ECC and enamel defects in preschool children aged four and five years attending kindergartens in Qatar.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was performed among 250 children randomly selected from 16 public kindergartens. Caries experience was measured using the World Health Organization caries criteria (dmft) for tooth rather than surface; enamel defects were scored by the modified developmental defects of enamel index. Descriptive statistics and Chi-Square test of relatedness were used.ResultsA response rate of 63 % was reported. The overall caries prevalence of the study sample was 89.2 %; 15.6 % of the examined children had ECC and 73.6 % had severe ECC. Developmental enamel defects were present in 39 % of children and 27 % had demarcated enamel opacities.ConclusionThe high rate of dental caries and enamel defects recorded in this study for this young age group has strongly emphasized the necessity of community-based preventive programs and professional care that should begin during pregnancy and in early childhood.

Dental Caries and Developmental Defects of Enamel in the Primary Dentition of Preterm Infants: Case-Control Observational Study

“…This heterogeneity might be due to socioeconomic differences between the study populations or to the study design. The prevalence of DDE in the PTI-G was within the upper range reported in the literature [Oliveira et al, 2006;Franco et al, 2007;Correa-Faria et al, 2013;Masumo et al, 2013;Alkhtib et al, 2016;Wagner, 2016]. The high occurrence of DDE in the PTI-G (65.6%) is consistent with previous comparative studies from Brazil and Spain [Lunardelli and Peres, 2006;Velló et al, 2010;Cruvinel et al, 2012] but higher than in a German local cohort study, where 20.0% of PTI suffered from DDE [Wagner, 2016].…”

Molar-Incisor Hypomineralization and Associated Factors: A CaseControl Study

“…A higher caries experience in permanent teeth was observed in the case group compared with the control group, corroborating the results of other studies [1,11,16,19,[37][38][39]. Molar-incisor hypomineralization is a qualitative enamel defect, making teeth more susceptible to dental caries [4,11,16,17].…”

Early‐life events and developmental defects of enamel in the primary dentition

“…Demarcated opacities were the most common type of DDE observed in the present study (11.5%), similarly to previous studies . A Brazilian study involving preschool children showed a slightly higher prevalence of demarcated opacities; however, that study involved children who were older than those in our study, different that used in our research.…”