Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep;21(3):158-176.
doi: 10.30476/DENTJODS.2020.82596.1024.

Dental Caries Status and its Related Factors in Iran: A Meta-Analysis

Mohammad Reza Soltani  1 , Mahsa Sayadizadeh  2 , Sajad Raeisi Estabragh  3 , Kiana Ghannadan  4 , Mahsa Malek-Mohammadi  5
Affiliations

Dental Caries Status and its Related Factors in Iran: A Meta-Analysis

Mohammad Reza Soltani et al. J Dent (Shiraz). 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Statement of the problem: Dental caries is a global health issue, which imposes a great deal on individuals and the community.

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to identify the dental caries status and/or DMFT/dmft data and its related factors in Iran.

Materials and method: The search performed in the online databases to identify all literature published up to Oct 2018. The random effects model was applied to pool analysis and verses. Funnel plots and Egger test used to examine publication bias. All analyses were carried out with R software version 3.2.1 and STATA (version 11.1).

Results: 69 studies selected as eligible for final analysis in which all subjects were in age range less than 18 years old except 4; so, all results and analyzes were only calculated in this age group. The total rate of dental caries was 72.8% (95%CI, 69.2-76.4%) and the mean of dental caries was 2.33 (95% CI, 2.12-2.54) based on DMFT values and 3.86 (95% CI, 3.49-4.22) based on the dmft values. These rates were almost similar in both sexes. In addition, these trend were higher in rural than urban regions. Subgroup analysis found a direct relationship between DMFT index and age, while the reverse was true for relationship between dmft and age. The mean dental caries were higher in children with low socioeconomic status, low family income, low educated and unemployed parents, crowded families, excessive carbohydrate intake, and less toothbrushes frequency.

Conclusion: The present study showed high prevalence and experience of dental caries among children and adolescents (<18 years of age) in Iran. This illustrates ineffective oral health national preventive programs and lack of educational measures. New preventive procedures, practical educational programs, and modern therapeutic methods are needed to improve oral health status.

Keywords: DMFT; Dental Caries; Dental Decays; Iran; Meta-Analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of dental caries status and its related factors in Iran.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The mean of dmft index in Iran based on random effects model. The midpoint of each segment is the estimate of prevalence and segment lengths show the 95% CI for each study. The diamond mark shows the prevalence in the country for all studies.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Funnel plot for checking publication bias
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Urquhart O, Tampi MP, Pilcher L, Slayton RL, Araujo MWB, Fontana M, et al. Nonrestorative Treatments for Caries: Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis. J Dent Res. 2018;22034518800014 - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. 2018. Oral health [accessed 2018 August 21] Available at: http://www.who.int/oral_ health/disease_burden/global/en .
    1. Butten K, Johnson NW, Hall KK, Anderson J, Toombs M, King N, et al. Risk factors for oral health in young, urban, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Aust Dent J. 2018 doi: 10.1111/adj.12662. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Villavicencio J, Arango MC, Ordonez A, Contreras A, Villegas LM. Early childhood caries, salivary and microbiological aspects among 3- to 4-year-old children in Cali, Colombia. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2018;19:347–352. doi: 10.1007/s40368-018-0365-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. 1997. Oral Health Survey: basic methods. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/emergencie s/diseases/

LinkOut - more resources