Dental caries and fluorosis among children in Lebanon

The purpose of this study is to assess caries and enamel fluorosis in a sample of 1433 children aged 6-8, 12, and 15 years from 48 schools in 6 regions of Lebanon, selected by probability proportional to size.

Children were examined according to the World Health Organization criteria.

Our results showed a mean of decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) of 0.6 (dft of 5.15), 3.42, and 5.44 corresponding respectively to the groups of 6-8-, 12-, and 15-year-old children. In the same groups, the percentage of DMFT = 0 for the 6-8-year-old category was 74%, the 12-year-old category was 20.9%, and for the 15-year-old category was 9.7%; Ten (2.1%) 12 year olds had moderate and one (0.2%) severe scores; these children had been born in other countries.

Survey results confirm the need to implement nationwide dental caries prevention measures. Since water fluoridation is not feasible, salt fluoridation would be the alternative.