Caries Status in Children and Adolescents in Hubei Province, China

Objectives: To describe the oral health status of Chinese children and adolescents in Hubei province in relation to location and gender, and to highlight changes in dental caries experience. Methods: The survey employed a multistage, stratified, non-geometric proportional, randomized sampling, representing the civilian aged 5, 12 and 15 in Hubei province. The final sample comprised 3240 individuals. Each age group consisted of 1080 participants. The clinical examinations were performed by four examiners under lighting using CPI explorers and flat mirrors. Examination criteria for caries diagnosis was followed the WHO guidelines (1997). All data were inputted to the computer and analyzed by means of the SPSS 12.0 system for Windows. Results: At age 5, 55.6% were affected by dental caries and mean dmft was 2.4. The proportion of untreated dental caries (d) against mean dmft in 5-year-old children was 97.5%. The prevalence of dental caries in 12- and 15-year-old adolescents was 22.7% and 24.4%, respectively. The mean DMFT was 0.36 and 0.45, and untreated dental caries was dominant. In 5 years old children caries levels were higher in rural areas than in urban while caries experience of 12- and 15-year-olds was higher in females than in males. Conclusions: At the provincial level, dental caries prevalence in children and adolescents has significantly declined over the past ten years.