Dental Caries Scenario among 5, 12 And 15 Years Old Children Attended Universiti Teknologi MARA Dental Clinic: Nine Years Retrospective Study

Nur Sabrina Shes Su’eiba, Nur Syara Abd Wahid, Luay Thaoon Younis, Izyan Hazwani Baharuddin

Objective: To identify the dental caries scenario in children age 5, 12 and 15 attended UiTM dental clinic from 2008 – 2016. Methods: Records of patients treated at the clinics during a ten year period were evaluated. Patients with caries records in deciduous teeth were included in the study. A table was prepared in Excel spreadsheet to extract the data. The data was searched for dental caries prevalence in index age group (5, 12 and 15 years old) separately and following data was extracted: age, gender, years and DMFT index. The database was set up in Microsoft Office 2010 Excel, was submitted and analyzed in the Statistical Analysis Systems program (SPSS 23) using Pearson Chi-Square analysis. The significance level for all the analysis was set at P<0.05. Results: There is a significant difference in the prevalence of caries of 9 years data collected (P=0.048). The highest percentage of caries prevalence (68.1%) was observed in year 2010. Meanwhile the lowest percentage of caries prevalence (56.4%) was observed in year 2013. The mean for DMFT in 2010 was 3.62 (σ = 4.019) while in 2013 the mean for DMFT was 2.82 (σ = 3.873). Caries prevalence in 2008 was 60.5% (σ = 2.093); while in 2016, it was 57.6% (σ = 4.360). Conclusion: The results showed that the prevalence of dental caries was fluctuating throughout the years, which would indicate that there is a need for improvement in the oral health service and more strategic preventive measures must be implemented.