Intra‐oral distribution and impact of caries experience among South Australian school children

Abstract

This report describes the intra-oral distribution of caries and frequency of reported toothache using data from 9690 South Australian children aged 5-15 years. School dental therapists and dentists recorded dmfs and DMFS data and a questionnaire to parents sought information about toothache and its impact. There were higher levels of caries experience in deciduous teeth (mean 6-year-old dmfs = 2.61) compared with permanent teeth (mean 12-year-old DMFS = 1.15). In the deciduous dentition: between 11.4 per cent (9-year-olds) and 37.7 per cent (5-year-olds) of total dmfs was present as untreated decay; between 39.1 per cent (7-year-olds) and 42.8 per cent (10-year-olds) occurred on interproximal surfaces; and between 2.0 per cent (10-year-olds) and 27.8 per cent (5-year-olds) occurred in anterior teeth. In the permanent dentition, the majority of permanent caries experience occurred as fillings in pits and fissures of first molars and involved a single surface. Between 11.8 per cent (5-year-olds) and 31.8 per cent (12-year-olds) of children had a reported history of toothache, although the figure exceeded 50 per cent among children with all three forms of pit/fissure, interproximal and smooth-surface caries experience. The observed pattern of caries provides the basis for continued use of fissure sealants as a preventive measure among school children.

The relationship between dental anxiety and dental pain in children aged 18 to 59 months: a study in Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil

“…Slade et al 10 pointed out that 11.8% of 5-year-old children reported a history of toothache and that there was a strong association between toothache, age, family income and oral health status. According to them, pain thresholds varied according to socioeconomic status and were also influenced by other social and cultural factors.…”

Dental pain prevalence and association with dental caries and socioeconomic status in schoolchildren, Southern Brazil, 2002

“…Caries experience has been consistently associated in some studies with dental pain. However, these studies did not control potential confounding factors, such as the pattern of dental care 4,5,12,23,24,27 . Toothache has also been associated with patterns of dental care.…”

Oral pain and associated factors among adolescents in northern Finland

“…The prevalence of oral pain, one of the severe consequences of oral diseases, has been found to range from 5% to 49% among representative child and adolescent populations in different countries (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Dental caries, a prevalent cause of oral pain, is the most common oral disease, affecting 60% to 90% of school-aged children and adolescents in industrialized countries (11,12).…”