Assessment of deciduous dentition in 6-10 year old school children

Abstract

Introduction. The emergence of deciduous teeth in the mouth of a child usually brings a joy to every parent. However, after ”short-time euphoria” deciduous teeth, in most cases, become the cause of pain, swelling, infection and further complications. The aim of this study was to assess the status of deciduous teeth in school children. Material and Methods. The study included children age 6-10 years from four cities in Republika Srpska. All respondents were divided in two groups: Group I included those who voluntarily came to be examined at the dental clinic and the Group II-those who were randomly chosen in schools. The examination was performed using dental mirror and probe. Caries verification was carried out by Klein-Palmer system, dmft (d - decay; m - missing; f - filling), and its related indices: Person caries index (pci) and Average caries index (aci). In addition, a survey was conducted. Results. A total number of 228 respondents were examined. Total pci was 96.1%. On average, each child had aci= 4.17 while 10.52% of the children had fillings in primary teeth. None of the children had sealed fissures on deciduous teeth. Physical examination revealed that 12.2% of the children had submucous abscess in oral cavity. The survey revealed that 3% of children did not have a tooth brush. Conclusion. The prevalence of caries in primary teeth is high, despite the fact that the Health Insurance Fund in Republika Srpska covers full cost for complete restoration of teeth in children up to 15 years old. Responsibility for the low percentage of healthy and filled teeth is relying mostly on parents as well as the entire community that should provide development and availability of public health dental care in all areas.

Keywords

• deciduous teeth
• caries
• dmft
• children