Prevalence and clinical consequences of untreated dental caries using PUFA index in suburban Nigerian school children

Abstract

Despite the increase in the consumption of westernised diets by Nigerian children coupled with limited access to dental care, the prevalence was low but the clinical consequences of untreated dental caries was still high.

Evaluation of the Prevalence of Clinical Consequences of Untreated Dental Caries Using PUFA/pufa Index in a Group of Iranian Children

“…Dental caries, the most prevalent childhood disease, remain a public health problem worldwide (12,(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) This study aimed to assess the prevalence of the clinical consequences of untreated dental caries as detected by pufa/PUFA in 6 -12-year-old Iranian children.…”

“…The need for data regarding the extent of carious lesions and their consequences led to the development of the PUFA/pufa index (2). The PUFA/pufa index provides accurate information about the stage of caries and the clinical consequences of untreated caries (12). This index was first used in the Philippines, and its validity and reliability have been confirmed (2).…”

“…This index is easy to use, fast, and safe; it doesn't require any equipment, and it can be used by individuals other than dentists as well. Moreover, it has good intra-and inter-examiner reliability (2,12,24).…”

“…It should be noted that in all studies using the PUFA/pufa index, (2,6,12,22) most teeth with clinical consequences of untreated caries were classified as P/p code. Similarly, the P/p was the most frequently reported component in our study (P = 3.5% and p = 23.0%).…”

“…In addition, in 2013, Oziegbe et al evaluated the frequency and clinical consequences of untreated caries in Nigerian elementary school children using the pufa index (12). Moreover, in 2012, Baginska et al evaluated the efficacy of the pufa index in detecting the consequences of untreated caries in primary dentition of children in Poland and reported a strong association between the dmft and pufa indices (13).…”