Prevalence of non-cavitated and manifest forms of caries in preschool children in Samara

Abstract

Indices of the registration and evaluation of the severity of caries are useful tools in the estimation of both dental health among the population and the preventive dental programs advanced to the dentistry. The decay-missing-filled (DMF) index proposed by WHO in 1938 assumes the presence / absence of cavitated carious lesions of dentin, fillings and teeth extracted because of caries and its complications. A significant limitation of this indicator is the neglect of non-cavitated forms of caries, which make up 90 % of the pool of dental carious lesions. The purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence of non-cavitated and manifest forms of caries in preschool children in Samara. An epidemiological examination of the dental health of 4-8 years old children attending preschool and school educational institutions in Samara was performed. Totally 460 children were examined, of which 53 children (21 boys) were examined at the age of 4, 78 children (37 boys) at the age of 5, 178 (97 boys) at 6 years old, 78 (43 boys) at 7 years old, 73 (33 boys) at the age of 8 years. Two indices were used to assess the hard tissue damage caused by caries: the index of DMF of teeth and surfaces and the index of D0DMF of teeth and surfaces, the latter was proposed by the author. Our epidemiological study showed that the prevalence of dental caries in preschool children in Samara was 52.83%, 65.38%, 82.02%, 87.18%, 79.45% among 4, 5-, 6 -, 7- and 8-year-old children respectively. The prevalence of caries, taking into account non-cavitated forms, was 84.61%, 88.46%, 91.57%, 97.44% and 90.41% among 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 year old children respectively. By the age of 8, 67.12% of children in Samara have permanent teeth with signs of developing caries (types without cavities). It suggests the necessity to start comprehensive programs for the prevention of caries in organized groups of children.