title: Prevalence of caries and lesions treatable through the ART approach in high caries risk schoolchildren in Damascus, Syria.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Regional WHO Demonstration, Training and Research Centre for Oral Health, Damascus, Syria.
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Taifour
authors.forename: Jo E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Frencken
authors.forename: Nabil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Beiruti
authors.forename: Martin A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van't Hof
authors.forename: Gert-Jan
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Truin
mesh_terms: 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