Needs/Demands of Dental Treatments among 12- and 15-year-old Children

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate normative and perceived needs of dental treatments among 12- and 15-year-old children and their parents in Long Xuyen city, An giang province, Vietnam. Methods : A cross-sectional study was conducted. A randomized multi-stage stratified cluster sampling technique was applied to select 1400 schoolchildren (727 twelve-year-old  and 673 fifteen year-old schoolchildren) living in Long Xuyen city, Angiang Province, Vietnam. Treatment needs of dental caries and periodontal disease from the schoolchildren were recorded according to WHO criteria (1997). Their treatment demands of the two diseases were also gathered by using questionnaires to the children and their parents using face to face interview method. Kappa index was applied to measure agreements between the needs and demands. Results: 55.6% of twelve-year-olds  and 68.9% of fifteen year-olds  had treatment needs of dental caries. 23% - 35.9% of them had urgent needs for treatment of dental caries. However, 4.9%-5.7% of them had perceived needs of the disease. 4.7%- 9.5% of their parents perceived their children as needing  caries treatment. Similarly, 55.8% of the twelve-year-old children and 71% of fifteen year-old ones were found to be in need of treatment for their periodontal condition, whilst 15.0-16.5% and 16.9-18.1% in 12 year-old and 15 year-old children perceived the need respectively. Kappa Index between needs and demands of dental caries and periodontal diseases were 0.14-0.23 and 0.03-0.10, respectively. Conclusions: There were high treatment needs of dental caries and periodontal diseases among 12- and 15-year-old children in Long Xuyen city, AnGiang province, Vietnam. But poor agreements between needs and demands of treatment regarding the two diseases were found in the populations.