Dental caries in young male adults: prevalence, severity and associated factors

The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and severity of dental caries as well as the needs for dental treatment in 18-year-old males from Maringá, PR, Brazil. The association of dental caries experience with socioeconomic variables was also tested. A cross sectional study was conducted in a random sample of 241 conscripts of the Brazilian Army. The adopted diagnosis criteria were those proposed by the World Health Organization. A socioeconomic questionnaire was utilized to determine family income and the criterion of the Brazil Economic Classification of the National Association of Research Enterprises. Associations among caries prevalence, DMF-T index, treatment needs and socioeconomic variables were evaluated by means of the Chi-Square, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Caries prevalence was 82.6% and the mean DMF-T index was 4.6. Only a mean of 0.8 tooth per individual presented treatment needs. Significant statistical differences were found in caries prevalence and severity (DMF-T). The worst results were observed in the groups of lower income and purchasing power, indicating a need for the implementation of social policies that address these populations aiming at diminishing the existing differences in the health-disease process indicators. On the other hand, treatment needs were only associated to the Brazil Economic Classification Criterion variable (p < 0.05).