Current prevalence of dental caries in Iraqi preschool children : a comparison to national and international studies

Abstract EN

Background : This study described the occurrence of dental caries among children in kindergartens and described changes in caries prevalence and experience from 1983 to 1998, and to provide a baseline for the evaluation of the preventive oral health programs.

Materials and methods : The sample consisted of 946 kindergarten children, 512 (54.13 %) boys, and 434 (45.87 %) girls age ranged between 4 - 5 years, and the kindergartens were randomly selected in different regions in Baghdad city.

Results : In this study the mean value of caries experience (dmft) was found to be equal to (4.83 ± 4.05) for boys, and (4.15 ± 4.00) for girls in age 4 - 5 years.

Conclusion : It was concluded that in spite of the drastic changes concerning diet, especially sugar and carbohydrates due to sanctions, but what was found that there were few fluctuations around the same values of (dmft) from 1983 -1998.

It was concluded that the present (dmft) value was among the highest reported values among recent international studies and neighboring Arabian countries.