Prevalence and polarization of dental caries among young, healthy adults: Cross-sectional epidemiological study

Abstract

Objective. Oral health of young people has improved in the industrialized countries during past decades. However, stagnation of this progress has been reported recently. The main aim of this epidemiological study was to investigate the level of cariological treatment history and need (DMFT, DT) and polarization of dental caries among a healthy young male population born in the early 1990s. Materials and methods. Oral health of 13,564 men and 255 women born in 1990, 1991 or 1992 was screened based on the WHO criteria for epidemiological studies by 15 calibrated dentists in 20 garrisons (of a total 24) of the Finnish Defence Forces in January and July 2011. Mean DMFT and DT (SD) values and their distribution were calculated excluding wisdom teeth. Polarization was investigated using the Lorentz analysis. Results. Mean DMFT, DT and FT values were DMFT = 4.1 (SD = 4.2), DT = 1.4 (SD = 2.5) and FT = 2.7 (SD = 2.9). Almost half of the men (45.1%) and one third of the women (37.3%) had at least one tooth needing restorative treatment. About 30% of the conscripts had 90% of all caries lesions and ∼ 10% of the conscripts had half of all lesions. Conclusions. Oral health of young males has not improved since the previous study among conscripts 15 years ago. Polarization of dental caries still exists. About half of the young male population still has manifested dental caries. Oral health promotion must not be neglected, even in countries with low caries prevalence.

Key Words::

• caries prevalence
• young adult
• polarization
• treatment need
• screening oral health
• epidemiology

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the dental staff at the dental clinics of the Finnish Defense Forces for their enthusiasm and work in conducting the field survey, as well as the medical conscripts for their assistance. We also want to express our thanks to Mrs Mari Saario at the Centre for Military Medicine, Finnish Defence Forces for her co-operation in collecting data. We are grateful to Mr Matti Paadar for his work in getting the computers needed for the field survey. We also thank Dr Ahti Niinimaa for his contribution in developing the computer program used in this study and preparing the computers for delivery. We appreciate the time and effort given by Mr Juhani Vänttilä and Mr Eino Kemppainen for delivering the computers to the garrisons in December 2010. Golgate Gaba in collaboration with the Finnish Dental Society Apollonia, as well as the society of the Finnish Female Dentists supported the study by grants to TT and VA. Also the Finnish Association for Dentists in Public Health supported the study by a grant to TT.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interests. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.