Dental caries prevalence in intermediate Saudi schoolchildren in Riyad

The study was performed in 1378 intermediate Saudi schoolchildren in Riyad, 693 females and 685 males. The results indicate low caries prevalence among Saudi children. This may be due to the type of food eaten, and other factors could be important, e.g. the use of miswak by Saudi children as the traditional practice for brushing teeth. The difference between the DMFT of the total number of Saudi females and males by sex and age were not statistically significant, P greater than 0.7498 and P greater than 0.1808, respectively. The chi-square analysis for treatment needs between females and males indicate that the differences were not statistically significant (chi 2 = 0.254, 1 df, P = 0.6145). The most prominent finding was a high percent (77.65%) of treatment needs for Saudi children. This confirmed the continuous need for planning and delivering dental services.