Caries Incidence in Children With Regard to Their Oral Hygiene Habits and Past Caries Experience

摘要

Caries incidence in children is frequently connected to certain life habits of each individual. Multifactorial etiology of dental caries make it difficult to act on etiological factors, but if we get to know them better it can help us to prevent tooth decay as one of the most humane and economical ways of acting against caries, which is still an important issue of public health. The aim of this study was to establish certain regularities in caries incidence in children during primary and permanent dentition, with regard to clinical and nonclinical variables which can be gathered in everyday clinical work. The study was conducted on 301 subjects, inhabitans of Petrinja and Topusko. The subjects were age from 3-6 and 11-14 years. Seventy-four subjcts participated in the younger age group and 227 in the older. All the subjects were under the same protocol. The questionnaire examined the level of oral hygiene, use of additional supplements (antibacterial agents, fluorides), eating habits, nutrition and socio-economical status. Clinical examination was made by one experienced examiner. It consisted of a dental examination, determination of the quantity of stimulated saliva and evaluation of oral hygiene index (Green-Vermillion). Orthodontic anomaly was also noted. On the basis of the collected and statistically processed data we reached the following conclusion: children in rural an sub-rural areas of Croatia, especially in parts affected by the recent war, show very high values of dmft/DMFT. DMFT index was 6.67 and dmft 7.7. The obtained value of SiC index was 10.89. On the basis of these results we can conclude that we are still far away from the goals set by WHO and FDI to improve oral health.We also found a very high percentage of orthodontic anomalies, from 68.72% in the older group to 39.19% in the younger. The study confirmed the rule of the distribution of caries lesions towards the tooth and jaw. This knowledge, with the collecting of non-clinical variables, can be effectively used in everyday clinical practice and allows quick and accurate diagnosis with the right preventive and curative care to improve the level of oral health.