Tatiana Frederico de Almeida1*, Amanda Luisa Rodrigues de Paiva2, Ágatha Larissa do Nascimento dos Anjos2, Maria Beatriz Barreto de Sousa Cabral1, Maria Isabe1 Pereira Vianna1 and Maria Cristina Teixeira Cangussu1
1Professor in School of Dentistry/UFBA,Rua Araújo Pinho, Salvador,Brazil
2Graduate student in School of Dentistry/UFBA, Rua Araújo Pinho, Salvador, Brazil
*Corresponding Author: Tatiana Frederico de Almeida, Professor in School of Dentistry/UFBA, Rua Araújo Pinho, Salvador, Brazil.
Received: March 18, 2020; Published: May 28, 2020
Objective: To describe the prevalence and severity of dental caries and enamel changes in children aged 3 to 5 years in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil and analyze some factors associated with these changes.
Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study that investigated dental caries and enamel changes (opacity, hypoplasia and fluorosis) in children aged 3 to 5 years, who attended municipal public daycare centers and Family Health Units, in 2018. Descriptive and univariate analyzes were performed, using the chi-square test with 5% significance, in search of potential associated factors (sociodemographic, white spot and dental calculus) with the investigated problems.
Results: 2788 children were examined, with a mean age of 54 months (SD = 5.8), 50.90% male and 92.97% brown/black. The prevalence of caries was 38.38% and the dmf-t was 1.53; the prevalence of enamel alteration was 10.56%. The highest occurrence of caries was associated with the child's age (55 months or more), presence of white spot, dental biofilm and enamel changes (p <0.05). Higher prevalence of enamel defects was associated with older age (55 months or more) and with the presence of caries. Children who were examined at public daycare centers had more oral problems than those who were examined at Family Health Units (p <0.05).
Conclusion: Early caries and enamel changes still represent problems to be controlled in the city of Salvador-BA. Preventive oral health strategies must be implemented or reinforced.
Keywords: Epidemiology; Preschool Children; Dental Caries; Dental Enamel Hypoplasia
Citation: Tatiana Frederico de Almeida., et al. “Prevalence of Dental Caries and Dental Defects of Enamel in Children Aged 3 to 5 Years-Old from Salvador- BA, Brazil, 2018”. Acta Scientific Paediatrics 3.6 (2020): 25-31.
Copyright: © 2020 Tatiana Frederico de Almeida., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.