Oral health status of 12-year-old school children in Yemen. A cross- sectional survey.

AIM This study aims to describe the oral hygiene practices and the oral health status of 12-year-old school children of Aden, Yemen. STUDY DESIGN Multistage stratified cross-sectional survey. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross- sectional survey of randomly selected schools in the city was performed. Four hundred 12-year-old students were recruited in the study from both private (N. 200) and government schools (N. 200). In total 219 boys (54.8%) and 181 girls (45.2%) participated in this study. Scoring of decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) and the Community Periodontal Index (CPI) scores were computed according to the WHO recommendations. RESULTS Mean DMFT was 2.22±1.56 and DMFT >0 was seen in 90.2% of the study subjects. The D component of the caries index was dominant and it was clinically evident in 84.7% of the students. Children having high cariogenic food consumption had significantly (P<0.001) higher mean DMFT, DT, MT and FT. Children who used only toothbrush were found to have significantly (P<0.001) lower caries experience as compared to those who used only miswak or those who used both. About 63% of the students has CPI=2 and less than 20% had CPI=0. Children who brushed regularly were found to have better CPI scores. Multivariate analysis showed that diet (ORa = 1.56; 95% CI= 1.82-2.44) was significantly associated with dental caries. STATISTICS data were analysed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). CONCLUSION The overall oral health of the 12-year-old school children is poor. More emphasis has to be given school based and community based oral health promotion and preventive programmes.