Assessment of Dental Decay in a Group of Children in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

AIM: The purpose of this research was to determine the prevalence, severity, and pattern of dental decay in 6–7-year-old youngsters in military elementary schools in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 312 youngsters randomly selected from eight elementary schools. Dental decay prevalence was determined by using dmft/dmfs/DMFT/DMFS indices according to the “British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry” diagnostic specifications. RESULTS: There was no statistically notable difference in the prevalence of decay between boys and girls (p = 0.54). There was a notable difference between the mean dmft and dmfs in primary teeth (p = 0.000). There was a notable increase in the prevalence of decay for permanent teeth in males when compared to females (p = 0.011). The mean DMFT in boys was notably higher than that in girls (p = 0.035). No notable difference was found between males and females in mean DMFS (p = 0.54). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of dental decay was high among the study sample. There is a vast need to reduce dental decay by increasing dental awareness for youngsters and their parents. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Age has an important role in evaluating decay prevalence and dmft/dmfs/DMFT/DMFS indices. On the basis of age, caries is prevalent in 6–7-year-old youngsters and the dmft/dmfs/DMFT/DMFS indices resulted in high values. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: AL-Malik M, AlKattan H, ALBukhari L, et al. Assessment of Dental Decay in a Group of Children in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2019;12(5):423–428.