Caries Experience of Egyptian Adolescents: Does the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment Approach Offer a Solution?

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and severity of dental caries amongst Egyptian adolescents and the prevalence of carious lesions treatable through the atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) approach. Subjects and Methods: Using a convenient sample procedure, two secondary schools with a dental clinic were selected (967 students, average age: 13.7 8 0.8 years, range: 12–15). Dental caries was diagnosed using the ART caries criteria, and plaque and calculus were assessed using the Green and Vermillion criteria amongst students grades 1–3 in the dental clinic by 3 calibrated examiners. The effect of the independent variables gender, age, tooth surface, jaw side (left or right) and type of jaw (mandible/maxilla) on dependent caries experience variables and D 2 and D 3 variables were tested using ANOVA. Results: The prevalence of dental caries including enamel lesion (D 2 MFT) amongst the 967 students was 51.4% and that of dental caries excluding enamel lesions (D 3 MFT) was 38.1%. The mean D 2 MFT and D 3 MFT scores were 1.5 and 0.8, respectively. The percentage of teeth filled and extracted was low. Female students had statistically significantly higher mean D 3 MFT/S and D 2 MFT/S scores than males (p ! 0.0001). The prevalence Received: March 29, 2010 Accepted: March 27, 2011 Dr. Enas H. Mobarak Cairo University 14 El Zahra Street, PO Box 12311 Dokki, Giza (Egypt) Tel. +20 2 010 164 1166, E-Mail enasmobarak @ hotmail.com © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel 1011–7571/11/0206–0545$38.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/mpp D ow nl oa de d by : R ad bo ud U ni ve rs ite it N ijm eg en 14 9. 12 6. 75 .1 1 1/ 2/ 20 15 1 2: 30 :0 5 P M