Comparison of the def index with Nyvad's caries diagnostic criteria in 3- and 4-year-old Colombian children.
OBJECTIVE
The aims of this research were to determine the epidemiological profile of dental caries in 3- and 4-year-old preschool children living in Bogotá, Colombia, and to compare two different caries indices--the standard def and Nyvad's new caries diagnostic criteria.


METHODS
The children were screened by two calibrated examiners who first brushed the children's teeth and air dried them for 5 seconds before they were examined. The diagnostic criteria used were the standard def-t and def-s and the def-t and def-s of the new caries diagnostic system proposed by Nyvad. The chi-square test2 was used with a significance level of 5%.


RESULTS
Prevalence of caries was 70% using the standard def-t criteria and 97% with the criteria proposed by Nyvad. The standard def-t and def-s were 3.3 and 5.7, respectively, and the def-t and def-s with the Nyvad citeria were 8.7 and 14.3, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Prevalence of caries was high, indicating that the population studied had a high disease rate. The results obtained with the more detailed Nyvad new caries diagnostic criteria were higher than the ones obtained with the standard def-t index, both for teeth and surfaces.
Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia. mariacla10@hotmail.com
M C
MC
González
J A
JA
Ruíz
M C
MC
Fajardo
A D
AD
Gómez
C S
CS
Moreno
M J
MJ
Ochoa
L M
LM
Rojas
D002675:Child, Preschool; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence