Assessment of Caries Spectrum of First Permanent Molars in 7- to 8-Year-Old School Children in Northern Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Dental caries and fissure sealant prevalence in first permanent molars among school boys aged 9 to 12 in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…24,25 Notably, none of the participants in Skaka had employed fissure sealants. 26 These findings underscore the inadequacy of the use of fissure sealants for caries prevention in children, which is a matter of concern given the demonstrated effectiveness of sealants in preventing occlusal caries. 11 The limited adoption of sealants may be attributed to factors like a lack of awareness among parents and dental professionals, constrained resources, or potential misconceptions regarding their effectiveness and necessity.…”

“…8 In Skaka, among children aged 7-8 years, a study reported a caries prevalence of 75% in FPMs, predominantly affecting the enamel. 26 In the eastern province of Dammam, it was reported that among children aged 8-12 years, there is caries prevalence of 49.8% in FPMs. 27 Down in the southern province, a study conducted in Abha reported a caries prevalence of 66.4% among children aged 7-10 years.…”

“…This finding aligns with prior research and can be attributed to disparities in morphology and a difference in eruption timing between mandibular and maxillary FPMs. [24][25][26]28 The substantial disparity in caries prevalence between maxillary and mandibular FPMs may be attributed to the anatomical differences and areas where food retention is more likely, rendering mandibular FPMs more susceptible to decay.…”

Assessment of Dental Caries and Intervention in the First Permanent Molars of Brazilian Children

“…At follow-up examination, about a quarter of teeth had enamel caries and about 10-20% had a dentinal lesion. On the other hand, Gudipaneni et al [18] also studied a population of children between 7 and 8 years old, and they found that most of first permanent molars presented initial caries lesion, enamel lesions, with a prevalence of 44.40% for upper right and 53.50% for left, and 61.30% for lower right and 64.90% for lower left [17].…”

“…Therefore, the first right upper molar (16), with 8.33% and the left upper first molar (26), with 4.90%. Studies also show that when there is past experience of dental caries, there is a significant increase in the recurrence of the disease [18,28,30].…”