Dental Caries Occurrence Among 12-year-old Children in Dar es Salaam

Objectives: The aims were: 1) to describe the occurrence of dental caries among 12-year-old school children in Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and 2) to study whether an increased DMFT-score was associated with poor oral hygiene habits, poor knowledge, frequent consumption of sugar containing items or higher socio-economic status of the family. Methods: The study sample consisted of 182 12-year-old school children from two different schools in Kinondoni district: 70 from Ndugumbi primary school and 112 from Hananasif primary school. Oral health status of all the subjects was determined by visual examination. Of the children 90 (30 in Ndugumbi and 60 in Hananasif) filled out a questionnaire on oral health habits and knowledge. Remaining subjects were interviewed by asking the same questions. Results were analyzed by cross-tabulations. Statistical significances were evaluated by Chi-square tests. Results: The mean DMFT-score in the whole group studied was 0.24 (SD 0.61). Only 3.8% of the subjects had two or more carious teeth. Girls reported brushing their teeth at least daily (96.8%) more often than boys (87.4%) did. Children from high socio-economic (SES) group reported brushing their teeth less often daily (87%) compared to children from low (98%) and middle (97.5%) SES-groups. No differences in DMFT-score between the groups were found. Of the subjects 77-95% had correct oral health related knowledge even though only 42% reported they they had received oral health education. Poor oral hygiene habits or knowledge, frequent consumption of sugar containing items or socio-economic status of the parents were not associated with elevated caries experience. Conclusion: The caries occurrence of the 12-year-old children in Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania was low. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by The Finnish Dental Society Apollonia, The Finnish Dental Association, The Odontologiska Samfundet i Finland and The Medical Faculty of Helsinki University.