Dental caries experience among school children in St. Vincent and The Grenadines: report of the first national oral health survey

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence and severity of dental caries among school children of St. Vincent and The Grenadines. Also, to establish baseline data on dental caries and determine the extent to which the present oral health care system is meeting dental needs.

Basic research design: National cross-sectional survey utilising the World Health Organization's pathfinder methods. Dental examinations were conducted from October to November 1991 by three trained examiners.

Participants: A total of 1648 students, 21% of school children in St. Vincent and The Grenadines, were sampled through multistage systematic sampling.

Outcome measures: Dental caries was diagnosed clinically according to the World Health Organization's diagnostic criteria.

Results: Caries prevalence in the permanent dentition was 69.4%, ranging from 68 to 73% according to gender and geographic location. In the primary dentition caries prevalence was 76.6%. Mean DMFT for the survey population was 2.69, dmft was 3.25, while the DMFT scores for gender and location types varied from 2.39 to 3.25. DMFT at 12 years was 3.25. No difference in caries prevalence was observed between gender in the permanent dentition but prevalence was significantly different in the primary dentition being higher among boys. Prevalence was significantly higher in the urban population relative to the rural population. The decayed component constituted 92% of DMFT and 91% of dmft.

Conclusion: Moderate caries severity and high levels of untreated decay were found in both primary and permanent teeth. The results emphasise the need for continuous surveillance and for appropriate intervention and prevention programmes.