Caries prevalence amongst pre-school children in Windhoek, Namibia
Date
2020
Authors
Aluteni, Moses
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Abstract
Background: Early Childhood Caries (ECC) has been recognised as a disease of serious consequences in both industrialised as well as undeveloped nations of the world. Its widespread prevalence among children makes it ideal for assessing the risk factors and identifying specific strategies that could be implemented to prevent the disease. Aim: The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of dental caries and its untreated consequences among 2-6-year-old preschool children in Windhoek, Namibia. Objectives: The objectives were; (i)To determine the prevalence of caries amongst 2-6-year-old children attending selected crèches in Windhoek, Namibia. (ii)To assess the clinical consequences of untreated tooth decay amongst 2-6-year-old children attending selected crèches in Windhoek using the pufa index.(iii) To investigate the strength of correlation between the dmft and pufa indices amongst 2-6years-old children attending selected creches in Windhoek, Namibia. (iv)To evaluate the correlation between oral hygiene practices and early childhood caries amongst 2-6-year-oldchildren attending selected crèches in Windhoek, Namibia. Methods: The study design used was cross-sectional and descriptive. A random sample was used to select children between the age group of 2-6 years attending selected creches represented within the 9 urban constituencies of Windhoek, Namibia. The sample size comprised 250children whose parents had consented to be part of the study. Data was collected by means of a dental clinical examination which focused on the diagnosis of dental caries using a World health organization (WHO) criteria for caries through the dmft and pufa indices. The dental examination was conducted at the respective crèches of the participants. An accompanying complementary oral health questionnaire was completed by the parents/care givers of the participants prior to the clinical dental examination and data was collated accordingly. The examinations were done by a single examiner and the examiner was calibrated by a team from the Department of Community Dentistry at the Wits Oral Health Sciences School. Ten percent of each examination sample was randomly selected and re-examined as a means of ensuring intra examiner reliability and consistent clinical judgment. Results: The caries and pufa prevalence amongst the study cohort was established at 55.77% and 6.54% respectively. The mean age of the children was 4.7 years, the mean dmft index score was 2.38 and the mean pufa score was 0.11. There was an increase in caries prevalence from 30.77% amongst the 2-year-old children to 66.67% amongst the 6-year-old children thus indicating an increase in caries prevalence with increasing age in both girls and boys. Conclusion: The caries and pufa prevalence of 55.77% and 6.54% for pre-school children of Windhoek is high compared to similar studies from other countries and it was directly proportional to increasing age
Description
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Dentistry (Community Dentistry) in the School of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2020