The caries prevalence of oral clefts in eastern China

Little information is available concerning the prevalence of caries among patients with oral clefts in Eastern China. Consecutive patients aged 6-18 with oral clefts were recruited. Patients were stratified into 2 groups according to their ages, namely Group I with aged 6-12 and Group II with aged 13-18. For each age group, the children were further divided into three subgroups according to the types of oral clefts they had: cleft lip/cleft lip and alveolus (CL), cleft palate only (CP), and cleft lip and palate (CLP). Dental caries were examined by using the decayed, missing, and filled index for primary teeth (dmft) and Decay, Missing and Filled index for Permanent teeth (DMFT) according to criteria of the World Health Organization. 268 eligible patients with oral clefts were included in the study. The mean DMFT for Group I was 1.77 (SD2.58) while that for Group II was 6.96 (SD4.35). The mean DMFT was statistically significant different between the age group I and age group II (t=12.21, P<0.05). In Group I, the dmft scores was 4.68 (SD3.67) for CL group, while that for the CP group was 7.36 (SD3.93), and that for the CLP group was 5.72 (SD 3.87). The mean dmft was no statistically significant different among cleft types (F=3.13, P>0.05). Also in Group I, the mean DMFT was 1.56 (SD2.18) for CL group, while that for the CP group was 1.24 (SD 1.81) and that for the CLP group was 2.08 (SD2.96). There were no statistically significant different in mean DMFT among different cleft types (F=1.09, P>0.05). In Group II, the mean DMFT was 6.06 (SD3.97) for CL group while that for the CP group was 7.71 (SD 4.94) and that for the CLP group was 7.05 (SD4.32). No significant difference was shown in the mean DMFT among different cleft groups (CL, CP, and CLP) (F=0.55, P>0.05). During assess the prevalence of dental caries among Eastern Chinese with oral clefts; the study confirmed that the prevalence of caries was increased with increasing age for oral clefts patients. It was also demonstrated that there was no significant difference in the mean dmft/DMFT scores among different cleft types.