determination of the decayed, missing, filled teeth index in iranian students: a case study of zahedan city

background: one of the most important health problems in life is dental caries or tooth decay. untreated caries are painful and may affect diet, school attendance, and sleep. tooth decay can also have significant negative health and social consequences in later life. objectives: the aim of this study was to determine the decayed, missing, filled teeth (dmft) index in 8-12 year old students in zahedan city and also to determine fluoride concentrations in drinking water in the studied area. patients and methods: this descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed in 2009 on 800 (400 boys and 400 girls) 8-12 year old students, who were randomly selected in zahedan city (southeast of iran) to assess the dmft index. the dmft index was determined using standard methods suggested by the world health organization (who) and drinking water fluoride concentration was measured in 144 samples collected from 12 desalination units using the spadns method. data was analyzed using spss 15 software and presented as mean ± sd. results: the mean dmft value was 2.41 ± 2.12, which was higher in the boys (2.68 ± 2.15) in comparison with the girls (2.13 ± 1.91). of the subjects surveyed, 38.5% were healthy, with 42.5% of the girls and 63.75% of the boys. the mean fluoride concentration of the drinking water was 0.57 ± 0.07 mg/l, which is less than the normal range (1.5 mg/l). conclusions: according to the results of the present study, the dmft scores in 8-12 year old students are higher than the global standards suggested by who. results indicate that the availability of other sources of fluoride must also be considered and taken into account in public health dentistry planning programs.