Dental caries status of primary school children aged 4-16 years in southwest Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the dental caries status of primary schoolchildren aged 4-16 in both urban and rural areas of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria.


METHODS
Cross sectional and descriptive.


METHODS
Sample comprised of primary school children (n = 1,829) selected from five urban non-fee paying schools and three fee-paying schools as well as five rural fee-paying schools. Caries was diagnosed based on the WHO caries diagnostic criteria (1997).


RESULTS
Caries prevalence was 14.4% in the urban area and 5.7% in the rural area (p < 0.01). Children from the fee-paying schools had a caries prevalence of 21% while those from the non-fee paying schools had a caries prevalence of 8.1% (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in dft score among 4-6 year-olds, which was 0.33 and 0.32 in both the urban and the rural areas respectively but there was a significant difference in dft and DMFT score in the older age groups. Most of the caries were unrestored, only 3 (0.16%) had filled teeth. 9.1% required restorative treatment, 2.4% had teeth for extraction.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of caries is low in the Nigerian population studied. Treatment rate is very low.
Sofola
O O
OO
Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos.
Jeboda
S O
SO
Shaba
O P
OP
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data