INTRAORAL DISTRIBUTION AND IMPACT OF CARIES EXPERIENCE AMONG SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL-CHILDREN

This report describes the intra-oral distribution of caries and freque ncy of reported toothache using data from 9690 South Australian childr en aged 5-15 years. School dental therapists and dentists recorded dmf s and DMFS data and a questionnaire to parents sought information abou t toothache and its impact. There were higher levels of caries experie nce in deciduous teeth (mean g-year-old dmfs=2.61) compared with perma nent teeth (mean 12-year-old DMFS=1.15). In the deciduous dentition: b etween 11.4 per cent (9-year-olds) and 37.7 per cent (5-year-olds) of total dmfs was present as untreated decay; between 39.1 per cent (7-ye ar-olds) and 42.8 per cent (10-year-olds) occurred on interproximal su rfaces; and between 2.0 per cent (10-year-olds) and 27.8 per cent (5-y ear-olds) occurred in anterior teeth. In the permanent dentition, the majority of permanent caries experience occurred as fillings in pits a nd fissures of first molars and involved a single surface. Between 11. 8 per cent (5-year-olds) and 31.8 per cent (12-year-olds) of children had a reported history of toothache, although the figure exceeded 50 p er cent among children with all three forms of pit/fissure, interproxi mal and smooth-surface caries experience. The observed pattern of cari es provides the basis for continued use of fissure sealants as a preve ntive measure among school children.