Prevalence of tooth decay in students from twelve municipal public schools in Camaçari - BA, from 2015 to 2019

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.1594452414054

• Palavras-chave: Dental caries, school health, oral health, epidemiology, DMFT index, dmft index.

• Keywords: Dental caries, school health, oral health, epidemiology, DMFT index, dmft index.

• Abstract:

  Objective: To understand and describe the experience of tooth decay in students from 12 public schools in Camaçari - Bahia, aged between 5 and 15 years, from 2015 to 2019, through an oral health survey using the dmft and CPO indices -D in accordance with the parameters established by the World Health Organization.
  Results: The prevalence of dental caries in the dmft and DMFT index of this population varied between 72.40% and 87.63%. The mean dmft for the age groups of 5 to 7 years and 8 to 9 years were 5.97 (±2.59) and 7.92 (±2.58), respectively. For the DMFT of the age groups 10 to 12 years old and 13 to 15 years old, they were respectively 2.02 (±1.13) and 3.90 (±1.31). Only 46.38% of students were caries-free (n=1167).
  Conclusion: The high prevalence of decayed teeth in children and adolescents who participated in this study may be related to their low socioeconomic and cultural level, in addition to the resulting lack of access to health services. This justifies the need to implement educational and oral health promotion actions, as well as carrying out curative actions, through the oral health program implemented following the oral health survey carried out in each school.