Caries- free students and severity of the disease in 12 year-olds in two health districts of Porto Alegre, 2002.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the number of caries-free children, as well as the prevalence and the severity of the disea¬se, in twelve-year-old students of both the northern and the northeast Health Districts of Porto Alegre. Additionally, another aim was to know the SCI (Significant Caries Index) for these Districts. The methodology was based on the Ministry of Health and the World He¬alth Organization Guidelines (WHO). 282 stu¬dents from the northern District and 220 stu¬dents from the northeast District were studi¬ed. Data were collected from clinical exami¬nation. DMFT was used to assess caries ex-perience. Chi-square test was used to assess the association among caries-free children, gender, districts, and DMFT components, with a minimum level of significance at 5% for both tests. The number of caries free children was 62.8% and 55.0% in the nor¬thern Health District and in the northeast Health District, respectively. The DMFT was 0.89 in the northern Health District and 1.0 in the northeast Health District. There was no statiscally significant difference in the pro¬portion of caries-free children and the me¬ans of DMFT between the two districts. Ho¬wever, in relation to the DMFT components, there was a statiscally significant difference between the Districts. The northern Health District showed a higher amount of filled te¬eth and a lower amount of decayed and mis-sed teeth. It was concluded that more than half of the 12-year-old population from nor¬thern and northeast Districts of Porto Alegre are free of caries cavities; the mean DMFT for the two studied Districts indicates a very low prevalence of the disease, according to the WHO classification; no difference betwe¬en genders was found relating to the disease experience; there was a significant differen¬ce among the DMFT components in relation to the Districts; lower molars were the most affected teeth; and, the SCI in the two studi¬ed Districts reached the goals set by the WHO for the year 2015, that is, a DMFT lower than 3.0.