Dental caries: Experience in relation to wasting and stunted growth among schoolboys in Abha, Saudi Arabia

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the dental health status of Saudi schoolboys in an urban city in the southwestern region of Saudi Arab ia, and to investigate the association of dental caries with wasting and st unted growth. Patients and Methods: A two-stage stratified random sample of 959 schoolboy s representative of the 6 to 13 year-old school population in Abha were sub jected to dental examination. Using the WHO criteria, decayed, missing and filled teeth were determined, and the prevalence of caries for each age gro up was determined by means of decayed and filled primary teeth (dft), and d ecayed, missing and filled permanent teeth (DMFT) epidemiological indices. The children were also subjected to weight and height measurements and thei r values were compared with the local growth standards. Results: The total prevalence of caries-free children was 14.6%. The mean d ft values at ages 6, 9 and 12 years were 6.53, 3.97 and 1.07, respectively (P <0.001), while the mean DMFT values were 0.16, 0.83 and 1.23 for such ag es (P <0.001). After adjusting for age and social class, the wasted childre n were found to have a higher caries prevalence in the primary dentition th an the well-nourished children (P <0.01), while children with stunted growt h exhibited lower caries prevalence in the permanent teeth (P <0.05). Conclusion: Comparisons with international goals for oral health by the yea r 2000 show that the goal for 12-year-olds with respect to the status of th e permanent dentition has been attained, but not the goal for 5-6 year-olds with respect to caries-free primary teeth. It is likely that nutritional s tatus may have different effects on susceptibility to caries of deciduous a nd permanent teeth.