AimsTo evaluate the prevalence of dental caries and the presence of fissure sealants on the first permanent molars (FPMs) among 6 to 9 years old primary school boys in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Materials and methodsThe carious status and the presence of fissure sealants on the FPMs were examined in 1844 schoolboys, aged 6-9 years (the first three grades), from 17 randomly selected primary schools in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Chi-square test was used to assess the significance of differences in prevalence and proportions.ResultsA total of 5394 FPMs were assessed in the 1844 children. Eighty-three point five percent of children were caries free. Only 0.8% of the children had at least one fissure sealant applied. At tooth level, the decayed FPMs counted for 10.6%. There was obvious underuse of fissure sealants on the FPMs; 0.5% (n = 25). The caries prevalence in the mandibular FPMs (14.4%), was significantly higher than in the maxillary FPMs, 7.7% (p < 0.01). The proportion of carious FPMs increased with age of the children significantly (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the proportion of the presence of fissure sealants among the three different grade/age groups (p > 0.05).ConclusionCaries prevalence in the FPMs was moderate but serious amongst this cohort of young students. This was opposed with very low use of fissure sealants.Clinical significanceCareful examination of the first permanent molars among children is mandatory because of their high caries susceptibility. It is important to increase public and dental professionals’ awareness of the effectiveness of fissure sealants and encouraging more placement.How to cite this article: Aldossary MS, Alamri AA, Alshiha SA, Hattan MA, Alfraih YK, Alwayli HM. Prevalence of Dental Caries and Fissure Sealants in the First Permanent Molars among Male Children in Riyadh, Kingdom Saudi Arabia. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent., 2018;11(5):365-370.

Objectives:To investigate the prevalence of caries and fissure sealants on the first permanent molars (FPMs) among 6–9-year-old girls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Materials and Methods:The FPMs of 17,891 school girls from 120 randomly selected public primary schools were evaluated by visual and tactile examination for the carious status and the presence of fissure sealants. Chi-square test was used to analyze the data at level of 5%. Results:A total of 58,140 FPMs were assessed in the 17,891 children. Nearly 64.6% of the children were caries free. Only 1.3% of the children had at least one fissure sealant applied. At tooth level, the decayed FPMs counted for 24.6%. There was obvious underutilization of fissure sealants on the FPMs; 0.8% (n = 478). The caries prevalence in the mandibular FPMs (33%) was significantly higher than in the maxillary FPMs, 18.2% (P < 0.01). The proportion of carious FPMs increased with age of the children significantly (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the proportion of the presence of fissure sealants among the three different grade/age groups (P > 0.05).Conclusions:Caries prevalence in the FPMs was high and serious among this cohort of young students. This was contrasting the very low prevalence of fissure sealants.

Aim: To assess caries prevalence among 6-to 9-year-old female children in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and compare between results based on nationality and age levels. Materials and methods:A total of 17,891 female students from 120 public female elementary schools in Riyadh city were examined according to the World Health Organization (WHO) diagnostic criteria. The decayed [dt], missing due to caries [mt], and filled [ft] primary teeth (dmft) index and its components were measured. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Student's t-test, and Chi-squared test were used to determine the significance differences, at α = 0.05. Results:The overall mean [dt] for all children was 3.89 [standard deviation (SD) 3.38], which increased to 5.0 (SD 3.02) when excluding children without active caries. The mean dmft was 5.69 (SD 4.0). However, excluding children with dmft = 0, the mean dmft was raised to 6.41 (SD 3.65). The caries prevalence was 88.82%. The non-Saudi children showed slightly higher values compared with Saudi children. However, statistically, there were only significant differences in values of [dt] mean, dt = 0, and [ft] mean (p < 0.05). The dmft index was higher for 7-to 8-year-old group (5.81, SD 3.98) followed by the 8-to 9-year-old group (5.79, SD 3.79) and the 6-to 7-yearold group (5.47, SD 4.18). However, there were no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) between 7-to 8-year-old and 8-to 9-year-old children. The 6-to 7-year-old children were statistically different from the 7-to 8 and 8-to 9-year-old children. Conclusion:The dental caries prevalence among the study population was high, with the majority of children having untreated caries. This highlights the need for initiating deliberate community-based preventive measures for improvement in public health education and services provided.

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