Changes in dental caries prevalence of school children in Araraquara, SP, Brazil

The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of caries in 1989 and 1992 in 7-12 year old school children in Araraquara, SP, Brazil. Systematic random samples were drawn from school children enrolled in the urban public schools and the surveys were carried out by trained examiners using the DMFT index. The results showed that in all ages there was an increase in the percentage of children free of caries for the permanent dentition (from 29.0 per cent in 1989 to 40.6 per cent in 1992). A decrease in the percentage of children classified in the 1-3 DMFT index category (from 40.0 per cent in 1989 to 33.7 per cent in 1992) and a decrease in the percentage of those classified in the 4-6 DMFT index category (from 26.6 per cent to 22.5 per cent) was observed. A slight decrease in the prevalence of children classified in the 7 or more DMFT index category was also observed (from 4.4 per cent to 3.1 per cent). The results obtained suggest that continuing efforts should be made to reduce the percentage of children with experience of caries in order to achieve the WHO/FDI goals for the year 2000.