Early Childhood Caries Status in Thai Preschool Children: ICDAS

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and severity of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) in preschool children by using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS). Methods: Dental caries examination, conducted at schools by one pediatric dentist, using ICDAS II was performed on 296 children (143 boys and 153 girls) aged 30-42 months from 10 nursery schools of suburban area in central part of Thailand. All parents gave informed consent. Prior to examination, the child's teeth were cleaned by using slow speed handpiece with brush and prophylaxis paste. Mirrorlite® and WHO periodontal probe were utilized to check for surface discontinuity. Results: Overall, 97.3% of children (average aged 37 months) had experienced ECC (ICDAS 1-6). Three –quarters of children (74.7%) had at least one cavitated dentinal lesions (ICDAS 5-6) in their mouth. The mean number of enamel lesions (ICDAS 1-3) (mean±SEM: 14.1±0.51) was higher than that of cavitated dentinal lesions (9.5±0.64). The mean decay, missing and filling teeth (dmft) was high (4.4±0.25), whereas the number of dental treatment teeth was very low (mft = 0.04±0.017). More than one-half of occlusal surfaces had dental caries (54.4%). Noncavitated enamel lesions (ICDAS 1-2) were most common on buccal and occlusal surfaces, respectively. Conclusions: There was an extremely high prevalence of ECC in Thai preschool children. In 3 years old children, the use of ICDAS provided important information for further caries prevention from enamel lesions to cavitated dentine caries which was highly prevalence in the primary dentition. (NIH D43 TW007768)