Caries status and treatment needs in South Africa: report of the 1999-2002 National Children's Oral Health Survey.
A third national children's oral health survey was conducted in South Africa between July 1999 and June 2002.


OBJECTIVE
One of the objectives of the survey was to determine the prevalence and severity of dental caries and the treatment needs for dental caries in 4- to 5-, 6-, 12- and 15-year-old South African school children. The sample comprised 30876 children from the nine provinces of South Africa.


RESULTS
The results of the survey show that 39.7 per cent of the 6-year-old group were caries free. This figure, 39.7 per cent, is below the goal of 50 per cent set by the Department of Health for 6-year-old children in South Africa for the year 2000. The DMFT of 1.1 for the 12-year-old group on the other hand was below the goal of 1.5 set for South Africa for the year 2000. The highest DMFT/dmft scores were recorded in the Western Cape Province and the lowest in the Limpopo Province. More than 80 per cent of caries in children go untreated while the greatest need for treatment in South African school children was for preventive services, restorations and extractions. The results for the 12-year-old-group show a reduction in dental caries severity in the permanent dentition in that the DMFT decreased from 2.5 in 1982 to 1.1 for the current survey.


CONCLUSIONS
Although dental caries severity in South Africa is classified as low by WHO standards, the high levels of untreated caries in all age groups in South Africa is a cause for concern.
van Wyk
P J
PJ
Department of Community Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Pretoria, PO Box 1266, Pretoria 0001. pjvanwyk@medic.up.ac.za
Louw
A J
AJ
du Plessis
J B
JB
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D019229:Dentition, Permanent; D006292:Health Priorities; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous