title: Caries epidemiology of the primary teeth in children from 3- to 8-years of age in Plovdiv.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The need of current data on the epidemiology of caries of the primary teeth in 3- and 8-year-old children and establishing the trends in the prevalence of this disease in the last 18 years in Plovdiv determines the aim of the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study includes 1124 children--536 girls and 588 boys from randomly selected kindergartens and schools in Plovdiv. The carious and filled primary teeth were registered (df). The following indicators were determined: prevalence of caries per persons (Ep), prevalence of caries per teeth (Et) and incidence of caries per teeth (It).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results show that the values of caries indicators increase with age: Ep in 3-year-old children is 23.13%, while in 8-year olds--83.22%. Et in 3-year-old children is 3.09%, while in 8-year olds--29.43%. The percentage of caries-free individuals in the target age group of WHO--5-year-old children is 47.32%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A trend of decrease of the prevalence and incidence of caries of the primary teeth is ascertained in children from 3 to 8 years of age in Plovdiv in the last 18 years. The disease is limited to an increasingly narrower children group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Medical University, 15A Vassil Aprilov St., 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Emilia L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Ilieva
authors.forename: Vania K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Veleganova
authors.forename: Ani B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Belcheva
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous