Dental Health Status of Hill Tribe Children, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Objectives: Hill tribe people in Thailand have a right to equity health care. Passive oral health care in this group has existed for years. In order to implement an active oral health care program, basic data is needed in order to plan the appropriate action. Therefore, this study was aimed at surveying the dental health of the hill tribe school children in a rural district of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Methods: All 251 school children aged 4-14 years old in a HMong hill tribe school were orally examined using WHO oral health survey criteria. Oral hygiene habits and snack consumption behavior were also assessed by observation and interviewing. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics. Results: It was found that caries prevalence of these children was high. The caries free percentage was very low at only 9.2% in primary teeth of 4-12 year-old-children, and only 18.9% in permanent teeth of the 6-14 year-old-children. Mean deft in primary teeth was 6.2, SD = 4.71 and the mean DMFT in permanent teeth was 3.04, SD = 2.91. The mean DMFT of these hill tribe children was significantly higher than those of the existing data of children in the urban school system at p-value of 0.002. Though children brush everyday, parents seldom follow up on their children's brushing habits. Mothers let children over 3 years old brush their own teeth without checking. Snack and sweets were extensively available from the shops in the village. Conclusion: This result indicated that a dental treatment and caries preventive program is urgently needed in this group of hill tribe school children. This study was supported by the Faculty of Dentistry, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.