Dental caries among 10- to 14-year-old children in Ugandan rural areas with 0.5 and 2.5 mg fluoride per liter in drinking water.
The purpose of this study was to report on dental caries among Ugandan children residing in rural areas with either a low or high fluoride concentration in the drinking water, and to assess factors associated with caries. A random sample of 481 children aged 10-14 years was selected from Mpondwe (n = 81) and Kyabayenze (n = 82) in the Kasese district with 0.5 mg and from Mutolere/Kagera (n = 163) and Kabindi (n = 155) in Kisoro with 2.5 mg fluoride/l in the drinking water. The children were examined for caries using the DMFT index as described by the World Health Organization in 1987. The mean DMFT was 0.34 in the whole material. In one low fluoride area, Kyabayenze, all children were caries-free compared to 75% to 86% in the other areas. In Kyabayenze, tea with sugar was taken significantly less frequently than in the other low-fluoride area. In the high-fluoride district, age and consumption of tea with sugar were positively and significantly correlated with caries. Multivariate analyses showed age to be the only significant risk indicator.
Rwenyonyi
C M
CM
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Bergen, Arstadveien 17, 5009 Bergen, Norway. mugisha.rwenyonyi@odont.uib.no
Birkeland
J M
JM
Haugejorden
O
O
Bjorvatn
K
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002327:Cariostatic Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005459:Fluorides / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013662:Tea; D014454:Uganda; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis*
D002327:Cariostatic Agents; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D013662:Tea; D005459:Fluorides