Dental caries in adolescents from public schools in Maputo, Mozambique

Objectives: to evaluate the prevalence of dental caries and dental fluorosis in children from urban and suburban areas of Maputo City and the relationship with dental plaque, nutritional status, frequency of consumption of sugar and the concentration of fluoride in the water supply. Methods: a random sample of 601 adolescents aged 12 years was selected from five urban and five suburban public schools. A questionnaire about sugar consumption was administered and water samples from the piped water supply of each school obtained and analysed using a fluoride ion probe. Bivariate analysis was used to verify differences in DMFT, fluorosis, dental plaque, nutritional status, frequency of consumption of sugar, and variation in fluoride concentration in the water between the urban and suburban areas. Pearson's correlation was used to verify correlations between DMFT and tooth cleaning . Results: The mean DMFT for the total sample was 0.99 (± 1.65). Children in urban schools had lower prevalence of dental caries (DMFT = 0.84 ± 1.49) compared to children in suburban schools (DMFT = 1.14 ± 1.80, p = 0.03). Fluoride level of in the water in urban schools was 0.4 ppmF, above the fluoride level found in suburban schools, which was 0.2 ppmF. Only 16.31% of all children had very mild to moderate fluorosis. Most children presented poor oral hygiene (n=506; 84.19%). Cases of malnutrition were found more frequently in suburban schools (n = 109:36,22%) than in urban schools (n = 66; 22%) (p<0.00). The frequency of sugar consumption was higher among urban children compared to suburban schools. Conclusion: There was a significant difference between the prevalence of caries, nutritional status, and fluoride in the water supply between the urban and suburban areas. Thus, dental caries should not at this stage be considered a major public health problem in Maputo at the moment.