title: Caries prevalence, severity, and 3-year increment, and their impact upon New Zealand adolescents' oral-health-related quality of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine dental caries experience among New Zealand adolescents and determine the nature of caries-associated differences in oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Follow-up was conducted of a random sample of 430 children first examined in 2003 at age 13, when they completed the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ(11-14) ). At age 16, 255 (59.3% of the baseline sample) were re-examined and again completed the CPQ(11-14) .
  
  
  RESULTS
  Caries prevalence (1 + DMFS) rose from 68% to 79.2%; mean DMFS rose from 2.9 (SD 4.7) to 3.6 (SD 4.8), and the prevalence of high caries experience (5 + DMFS) rose from 20.0% to 40.8%. The 3-year mean net caries increment of 0.5 surfaces (SD 2.6) was dominated by occlusal surfaces. At both ages, overall CPQ(11-14 ) scores, as well as emotional well-being subscale scores, were significantly higher for those with DMFS values of 5 or more.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Caries experience increased over the three years; this age group is caries-active. Dental caries affects adolescents' OHRQoL, although not as strongly as maybe expected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Rehabilitation, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Lyndie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Foster Page
authors.forename: W Murray
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Thomson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D009909:Oral Health; D062072:Patient Acuity; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires