The objective of this article is to determine the frequency and severity of dental fluorosis, as well as to verify possible associations with dental caries, gender, age, ethnicity and geographic location of schools in schoolchildren of 12 years old and from 15 to 19 years in the city of Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. A total of 633 schoolchildren of both genders at the cited ages, enrolled in 26 public schools of fundamental teaching were involved in the epidemiological study. The inspection was performed by three examiners previously trained to apply Dean's Index. The prevalence of dental fluorosis in the studied group was of 32.8%. Predominant degree was the very light (78.4%), followed by light (11.1%), questionable (8.7%) and moderate (1.9%). The prevalence of dental fluorosis was expressive in this population, however, with a low degree of severity. Factors such as age and dental caries index showed to be related to the variable response.

Objective To check knowledge of undergraduate dental students to make diagnosis of dental fluorosis with varying degrees of severity and choose its appropriate treatment.Methods Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire addressing knowledge of undergraduates based on ten images of mouths presenting enamel changes.Results Only three images were correctly diagnosed by most undergraduates; the major difficulty was in establishing dental fluorosis severity degree.Conclusion Despite much information about fluorosis conveyed during the Dentistry training, as defined in the course syllabus, a significant part of the students was not able to differentiate it from other lesions; they did not demonstrate expertise as to defining severity of fluorosis and indications for treatment, and could not make the correct diagnosis of enamel surface changes.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to verify from a school-based epidemiological survey, the prevalence of anterior open bite, analyzing the influence of pacifier habit in the school. METHODS: The first step was a questionnaire for the parents, and later clinical examinations in 237 school children, 3-14 years old, in the city of Santo Expedito do Sul/RS, Brazil. RESULTS: The population gender distribution was 50.3% boys and 49.4% girls with a mean age of 8.63 years, and 16% had primary dentition, 50.2% mixed dentition and 33.8 % permanent dentition. There was a 22.8% prevalence of anterior open bite, obtaining a significant association between anterior open bite and the pacifier sucking habit on the three dentitions. CONCLUSION: The duration and frequency of the habit were strongly associated with anterior open bite malocclusion in the deciduous and mixed dentitions.