title: The feasibility of descriptive epidemiology in assessments of dental caries disease in children in Russia and Belarus.
abstract: this study aims to estimate significance of the descriptive dental epidemiology in evaluation of the long-term effect of the Community program for prevention of dental caries.
  
  
  
  The descriptive dental epidemiology data of DMFT 12-year-old children in Belarus and Russia were analyzed since 1961 to 2014.
  
  
  
  Meta-analysis of publications indicated that prevalence of dental caries has dropped from average 3.7-3.8 DMFT at baseline to 2.2-2.6 DMFT after 20 years of the programs implementation in Belarus and Russia accordingly. However, during last 5-6 years a negative trend was assumed.
  
  
  
  Based on long-term DMFT monitoring, the community programs in Belarus and Russia were effective in reducing dental caries by 30-40% for about 30-years period. However, the observed trend was not stable perhaps due to insufficient scientific support of programs.
authors.affiliation: Belorussian State Medical University, Minsk, Belarus.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Leous
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D015995:Prevalence; D002094:Republic of Belarus / Q000453:epidemiology; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology