The Change in DMFT of Six-Grade Primary School Children in Shiraz two Years after Implementation of the National Oral Health Reform Plan

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: The oral health reform plan has been added to the Iran's health reform plan since the beginning of 2015. Evaluation of Iran’s oral health reform plan has rarely been conducted. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in DMFT among the six-grade primary school children of the city of Shiraz, two years after implementation of oral health reform plan. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A repeated cross-sectional study was conducted on six-grade primary school children of Shiraz in 2015 and 2017. About four hundred children were selected each year by cluster randomization sampling. The schools were randomly selected from three socioeconomically different types of schools including private schools, state schools in affluent areas, and state schools in deprived areas. The DMFT Index of selected children was compared between 2015 and 2017, and among three socioeconomically different areas. One-way ANOVA and Poisson regression tests were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean DMFT of children was 1.47±1.83 in 2015 and 1.29±1.79 in 2017. There was significant difference in mean DMFT value between years 2015 and 2017 (p= 0.048). The percentage of children with untreated dental caries was 46% and 36.7% in 2015 and 2017 respectively. There was no statistically difference in DMFT of the three socioeconomically different schools. CONCLUSION: There has been significant improvement in DMFT of sixth grade school children of Shiraz two years after implementation of oral health reform plan.