Oral health of 5 years-old in Jaljulia

Introduction: Despite the improvement is children's oral health in Israel that was shown in the National survey of 12years-old (DMFT=1.66), caries is still a serious health problem for a great part of the country. In the 5years-old survey of the student dental health survey big health disparities were found. DMF among Arab children was higher than among their Jewish counterparts: 4.85 vs 2.21(p<0.01). Objective: Assessment of Jaljulia children oral health for planning appropriate oral health promotion interventions. Material and Methods: From 263 5years-old in Jaljulia, 4 kindergartens were examined according to WHO protocol that includes clinical examination of the child using only a dental mirror mainly for handling the soft tissue. Results: One hundred and sixty children were examined. dmft=5.29, d=4.11, 18.1% caries free, with f=1.18 and an average of 4.5 treatments per child. Among those with caries, dmft=6.46 and 5 treatments needed. Conclusions: There is no improvement in dental health among Arab children and caries levels remain high. There is an urgent need for intervention (preventive and treatment) and of water fluoridation.