[Dental decay and tooth loss at the high school level in Mexican students].
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of dental decay and tooth loss, and to consider the treatment needs for students at the Mexican National Autonomous University (UNAM).


METHODS
A cross sectional study was designed including 77 191 students corresponding to the years of entrance to high school 2003, 2004 and 2005. Oral health data were obtained from the DMF-T index included in the Automatized Medical Exam (AME), a student self-answer instrument administered by the General Medical Services Department, UNAM. The analysis of the AME was univaried with the purpose of identifying the distribution and frequency of the variables.


RESULTS
The prevalence of dental decay and tooth loss was 48.0% and 34.2%, respectively. The DMF-T index was 5. The treatment needs for dental decay and tooth loss for a student were considered as at least one lost tooth.


CONCLUSIONS
Approximately half of the students from UNAM high schools need at least restorations and dental prosthesis. This suggests that oral health programs have not yet reached the expected health indexes according to international regulations, as well as the need to develop new research projects directed toward identifying disease severity and the factors that are detrimental to oral health.
de la Fuente-Hernández
Javier
J
Dirección de Odontología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoDistrito Federal, México. fuente@servidor.unam.mx
González de Cossío
Marcela
M
Ortega-Maldonado
Miriam
M
Sifuentes-Valenzuela
María Cristina
MC
D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D015995:Prevalence; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology*