Prevalence of early childhood caries in 3- to 5-year-old children in Philadelphia district, Mpumalanga Province.
BACKGROUND
Early Childhood Caries (ECC) can be defined as dental caries in preschool children. There is a lack of data on the prevalence of ECC at a global, national, regional and district level. Hence the severity and extent of the disease is unknown.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to establish the prevalence of ECC among 3- to 5-year-old children from the Philadelphia district in Mpumalanga.


METHODS
A cross sectional study was conducted on 269 children aged between 3 and 5 years. The caries status was determined using the decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft) index as described by WHO 1997. RESULTS The percentage caries free individuals were 74.6%, 44.2% and 46.6% and the dmft values were 0.93, 2.69 and 2.18 for 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds respectively. The mean mt and ft values for 3- and 4-year-olds was zero. Among the 5-year-olds, the mean mt and ft values was 0.01 and 0.02 respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
For a rural community the prevalence of ECC is high. Virtually all caries in preschool children from this community is left untreated. There is a need for a properly planned preventive strategy for this community.
Wanjau
J
J
Dept. Stomatological Studies, Box D31, MEDUNSA, 0204. jwanjau@medunsa.ac.za
du Plessis
J B
JB
D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology