IADR Abstract Archives
Dental and Socio-demographic characteristics of children receiving School-based Oral Health Programmes in Tshwane.
Objectives: To describe the dental status of the school learners receiving school-based programmes and to determine the socio-demographic factors associated with the condition in the Tshwane District.
Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study design was utilised. A multistage sampling technique was employed to randomly select 10 schools, two grades in each school and all learners in selected grades were included in an oral health examination.
Results: A total number of 736 learners participated in the study. The prevelence of dental caries in the permanent dentition was 25.9% and in the primary dentition,30.2%. The mean DMFT/dmft scores were [(0.90;SD:1.7;SiC:2.7);(1.2;SD:2.3;SiC:3.7)] respectively. The prevalence of PUFA/pufa mostly affected the primary dentition (pufa 5.2% vs PUFA 2.2%). The unmet treatment need (UTN) was 89.6% and socio-demographic factors associated with the condition in the district were identified.
Conclusions: Though the prevalence of dental caries was relatively low in this population compared to other similar local studies, there were high levels of untreated disease.The disease mostly affected the female learners, primary school learners, urban learners and those not participating in a tooth brushing programme.
Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study design was utilised. A multistage sampling technique was employed to randomly select 10 schools, two grades in each school and all learners in selected grades were included in an oral health examination.
Results: A total number of 736 learners participated in the study. The prevelence of dental caries in the permanent dentition was 25.9% and in the primary dentition,30.2%. The mean DMFT/dmft scores were [(0.90;SD:1.7;SiC:2.7);(1.2;SD:2.3;SiC:3.7)] respectively. The prevalence of PUFA/pufa mostly affected the primary dentition (pufa 5.2% vs PUFA 2.2%). The unmet treatment need (UTN) was 89.6% and socio-demographic factors associated with the condition in the district were identified.
Conclusions: Though the prevalence of dental caries was relatively low in this population compared to other similar local studies, there were high levels of untreated disease.The disease mostly affected the female learners, primary school learners, urban learners and those not participating in a tooth brushing programme.