CARIES PREVALENCE DETERMINATION OF RURAL POPULATION USING THE ICCMS SYSTEM

Objectives: Dental caries has been identified as the most prevalent disease of the oral cavity, making it an important public health concern. Over 95% of the world population have a carious lesion or will develop one before death. Current protocols for visual caries detection, such as ICCMS, strive to have greater accuracy.
Methods: This system provides better sensitivity for detection of carious lesions in different states of progress and activity than indexes such as the DMF-T (Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth) which is also widely used.¹⁶Additionally, ICCMS is used together with methods of caries management to effectively control them.
Results: Caries were detected in 98% of the participants, the quantity of carious lesions varied from zero (2%) to 27 (0.5%). The mean number of caries per patient was 9.81 (standard deviation 5.48). Most of these lesions were classified as initial decay with a mean of 6.22. Moderate decay had a mean of 1.81 and extensive decay had a mean of 1.77 The distribution of carious lesions varied in age groups and had an 85% prevalence in the age range of 2-5 years; it decreased to 60% in the age range of 6-12 years, and increased to 100% in the rest of the age ranges.
Conclusions: Caries prevalence reacts in this population as the national average decreasing significantly for the mixed dentition ages. There is a high prevalence of early childhood caries in this populations and the caries of the adult reaches a 100%. Its important to point out that the detection system used has a higher sensitivity to initial caries.