Dental caries with ICDAS criteria and associated factors in Colombia

Objectives. This study describes the presence and severity of dental caries in Colombian children with deciduous dentition and quantifies the association with risk factors. Methods. A randomized sample of 856 children between 3 and 5 years of age, examined in in three cities in the Caribbean region in Colombia (Barranquilla, Cartagena and Santa Martha), during the year 2010, through the dental caries visual criteria (ICDAS) and the application of a questionnaire to the parents. Examiners standardization was done through training with a caries criteria international gold standard, evaluating at the same time the inter-intra examiner differences. Data were analyzed from percentage, mean and standard error according to the age of children. Association exploration was analyzed parting from the odds ratio, assuming confidence intervals of 95%. The multivariate analysis was done through logistic regression, obtaining raw and adjusted values by age and cities. Results. The average age of the children was 3.7 +/- 0.02. The dental caries prevalence was 80.7 %, (67.8 % for primary carious lesions; codes 1-2 and 53.8 % for primary carious lesions; codes 3-6). The most commonly present lesions were in smooth surfaces with average 2.30+/-0.04. The regression model adjusted for cities was significance with oral hygiene, soda consumption and responsibility in child care (÷2=14,7;p=0.002). The regression model adjusted for age was significance with exposure to fluoride, the child's school behavior and responsibility in child care (÷2=28,4; p=0.000). Conclusions. Dental caries lesions, including the cavitated and non cavitatated were highly prevalent in children in the Colombian Caribbean region and were associated with different exposures which, under different circumstances could vary from one population to another, which in turn suggests analyzing individual risk at the moment of intervention.