Epidemiology of Dental Caries

Question 1

What are the common caries indices used?

Answer 1

DMF index: Decayed, Missing, Filled. Can be DMFT or DMFS to reflect ratio on surfaces or on teeth.

Significant caries index (SIC): Highlights differences within the population. Allows a specific targetted approach.

Question 2

What are the limitations of the common caries indices we use?

Answer 2

No information on levels of current active disease

Question 3

What do the various indices used for caries reflect?

Answer 3

They measure past and present disease

Reflects lifetime prevalence of dental caries

Question 4

What are the limitations of the DMF index?

Answer 4

Can’t recognize whether tooth was extracted or exfoliated

Extractions for reasons other than caries

No information about teeth at risk

Equal weighting given to missing, untreated decay or well restored teeth

Do not account for restorations present for reasons other than decay

Question 5

How common are untreated dental caries?

Answer 5

In 2010 caries in primary dentition were the 10th most prevalent condition affecting 9% of the global population, 621 million people worldwide.

Question 6

What age sees the peak prevalence of untreated dental caries?

Answer 6

6 year olds

Question 7

What is the SIC10 index?

Answer 7

Modified index of the mean DMFT/dmft of the 10% of children with the highest scores

Useful in Australia (SIC10 score ranges from 4 to 6 times higher than mean scores for an entire age group)

Question 8

What can be said about the burden of untreated dental caries?

Answer 8

Caries are the 4th most expensive chronic disease to treat

The US projected spending for treatment of dental disease 122 BILLION in 2014

Causes severe pain and infection affecting children’s school attendance and performance and adults’ productivity at work.

Question 9

How common are dental caries in children in Australia?

Answer 9

55% of 6 year olds experienced caries in the primary dentition

48% of 12 year olds experienced caries in the permanent dentition.

Question 10

Which demographic most commonly gets dental caries in their primary dentition?

Answer 10

Untreated caries in primary dentition is higher in children:

Indigenous

Overseas born parents

Parents who have had less than tertiary level education

Low income households

Remote locations

Presented with a dental problem rather than for routine check ups

Question 11

What kind of disease are dental caries?

Answer 11

A continuum of disease states characterized by subclinical changes and lesions with dentinal involvement

Question 12

What are the symptoms of dental caries?

Answer 12

In the initial stages it is asymptomatic but when it reaches the dentin it becomes symptomatic.

Question 13

What are the current standards for caries in epidemiologic surveys based on?

Answer 13

WHO criteria which measures cavitation level.

Question 14

What is the DMF index?

Answer 14

Decayed

Missing

Filled

Permanent Teeth or Surfaces. DMFT can range from 0 to 28 or 32

DMFS can range from 0 to 88

Question 15

What does the D in DMFT/S reflect?

Answer 15

Caries or caries+restoration

Question 16

What does the M in DMFT/S reflect?

Answer 16

Missing

Question 17

What does the F in DMFT/S reflect?

Answer 17

Restoration due to caries

Question 18

How has the pattern of untreated dental caries changed from 1990 to 2010?

Answer 18

No major changes

Question 19

Where are dental caries more common; males or females?

Answer 19

No significant difference between males and females.

Question 20

What kind of factors influence the burden of dental caries?

Answer 20

Biological factors

Social factors

Financial factors

Question 21

Who bears the burden of dental caries?

Answer 21

Individuals as well as health care systems

Question 22

How common is edentulism in patients over 65y? Is there a propensity for one gender to get it more than another?

Answer 22

in 2013 19% of adults that old did not have any natural teeth.

This was the same for both males and females

Question 23

How common are dentures in patients older than 65 with some natural teeth?

Answer 23

In 2013 19% of adults over 65y had no natural teeth and of those with natural teeth 42% WORE DENTURES.

Question 24

How common are dental caries in children?

Answer 24

In 2010 children with dental caries (dmft+DMFT > 0) was 48% in 5yo and 69% in 9yo.

Children aged 5 and 6 had higher rates of untreated decay than older children.

Question 25

What percentage of 5 to 14 yos had at least 1 tooth with untreated caries in primary dentition? (cross-sectional study of 5 to 14 year olds)

Answer 25

27.1% of 5 to 10 yos

Question 26

What was the mean DMFS from 2012 to 2014?

Answer 26

Mean dmfs for 5 to 10 year olds was 3.1

Question 27

Which demographics had the highest dmfs numbers?

Answer 27

Highest in:

Low income families

Indigenous

Remote areas

7 to 8 yos

Question 28

What was the DMFS of permanent dentition in 5 to 14 yos like?

Answer 28

0.7 permanent tooth surfaces was affected by decay.

Question 29

Which demographics in the 2012 to 2014 cross-sectional study had the highest DMFS in permanent dentition?

Answer 29

Indigenous

Low income households

Low parental education

Children with dental problems at presentation

Question 30

What Australian state had the highest DMFT/DMFS?

Answer 30

NT had the highest number of untreated decay of primary tooth surfaces (2.6)

For WA - 1.0