Dental Caries Experience of Schoolchildren in Kuwait

Objectives: This study was designed to describe caries free proportions, caries experience and restorative care in schoolchildren attending government schools in Kuwait. Methods: A dental epidemiologic survey of the 5-14 year old schoolchildren was conducted in the 5 governorates of Kuwait city in 2001. Eight trained and calibrated dentists from the national school oral health program examined 4,588 randomly selected subjects and recorded the findings on an optical scanning chart created for the purpose. The sampling plan was found to have been implemented successfully and provided representative proportions of children by age, sex and governorate. Dental caries was scored in accordance with WHO criteria. Results: In the primary dentition, the proportion of caries free children in 5-12-year-olds was 30.9%. The mean dft was 2.8, and dfs 6.0. In the permanent dentition, the proportion of caries free children in 5-14-year-olds was 50%. Caries experience (DMFT) for all ages combined was 1.5 and surfaces score (DFS) was 1.9. Conclusions: There has been evidence about the progress of the school-based dental care delivery program. The rate of restorative care in the permanent dentition was approximately 4 to 6 times greater than observed in the national survey of 1982; and 2 to 3 times greater in the schools with the dental clinics than in the schools without the clinics. It is evident from this study that the restorative care has increased considerably. It also showed differences in caries experience and in the delivery of restorative care between the governorates. There is a clear need for expanding the national school oral health program to reach those children who are not yet receiving systematic preventive and curative services. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the Ministry of Health, Kuwait and the Forsyth Institute, Boston, MA, USA.