Prevalence of caries and lesions treatable through the ART approach in high caries risk schoolchildren in Damascus, Syria.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of dentinal lesions treatable through the atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) approach for high caries risk schoolchildren.


METHODS
A convenience sample was taken of 1,542 grade 1 and 931 grade 2 children from 21 primary schools in a low socio-economic area in Damascus. Dentinal lesions in which the smallest excavator (diameter of 0.9 mm) could enter the cavitated lesion were considered treatable using the ART approach. Mann-Whitney U and ANOVA tests were used to analyse the data.


RESULTS
The mean dmfs and dmft scores of the 6- to 7-year-olds (grade 1) were 9.0 and 4.4, respectively. The mean DMFS and DMFT scores of the 7- to 8-year-olds (grade 2) were 1.6 and 1.4, respectively. At least 89.9 and 54.9% of the dentinal lesions in the deciduous and permanent dentition that were in need of a restoration, respectively, were diagnosed as treatable using ART.


CONCLUSIONS
A high proportion of dentinal lesions in need of restorations in both deciduous and permanent dentitions in this high caries risk group of 6- to 8-year-olds were diagnosed as being treatable using the ART approach.
Taifour
Dai
D
Regional WHO Demonstration, Training and Research Centre for Oral Health, Damascus, Syria.
Frencken
Jo E
JE
Beiruti
Nabil
N
van't Hof
Martin A
MA
Truin
Gert-Jan
GJ
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013593:Syria / Q000453:epidemiology