Oral health status of children and adults in Madagascar

The present national study was undertaken in order to describe the oral health situation of the population in Madagascar. The WHO pathfinder sampling procedures were applied to obtain representative samples of the following age groups: 6 years (n = 1866); 9 years (n = 1905); 12 years (n = 1992); 15 years (n = 1130); 18 years (n = 792), and 35-44 years (n = 1809). Data were collected in 1993 according to the methods recommended by WHO, including dental caries, dental treatment need, and CPITN. In 6-year-olds, 85 per cent had caries in primary teeth and a mean of 3.1 DMFT was observed among the 12 year-olds; the 35-44-year-olds had an average of 13.1 DMFT. Differences in dental caries prevalence were found according to sex, urbanisation, region, and ethnic group. Ninety-one percent of individuals at age 18 and 72 per cent at age 35-44 had maximum CPITN score 2 (gingival bleeding and calculus). In an African perspective, the oral health status of the Malagasy population is extraordinary poor, and the implementation of community-based oral health promotion and prevention is urgently needed.