EVALUATION OF CARIES PREVALANCE IN 8-12 AND 13-16 YEARS OLD CHILDREN IN THE PROVINCE OF SEFERIHISAR IZMIR, PART:1

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between dmft/dmft index and various parameters such as age, gender, diet, oral hygiene habits, sociobehavioral status of 235 students in particular age groups. students, ages between 8-12 and 13-16, have been recruited for this study. questionnaire method was used to collect the requested data and determine the social habits of the students. the examination was carried out using intra-oral mirror and a probe in day light. kruskal-wallis, mann whitney u and chi square tests were used to analyze the data. the mean dmft score was found to be 1,01 for ages between 8-12 and 1,27 for ages between13-16. whereas for age range of 8-12, the dmft value came out to be 2.88. the results revealed that there were no correlation between dmft scores and gender, number of meals and snacks, home use of preventive oral care products and frequency of dentists visits. however it was observed that the dmft score for 8-12 years has been affected by age and frequency of toothbrushing. in addition as the age of the students increased the dmft score was found to be lower in this particular group. as a conclusion, determination of dmft/dmft indicies, dietary and oral hygiene habits, level of dental consciousness for communities and abundance of researches to this effect may help to improve oral health status of society.