Prevalence and severity of dental caries in children aged 6 to 12 attending the VIÑANI health center 2023

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and severity of dental caries in children aged 6 to 12 who belong to and attend the Viñani Health Center during the year 2023, in order to increase preventive measures. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, non-experimental, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted. The sample consisted of 660 children who attend the Viñani Health Center. Convenience sampling was used, considering as inclusion criteria those patients aged 6 to 12 who attended the Viñani Health Center and whose parents or legal guardians provided informed consent. Children aged 6 to 12 who did not want to participate or who had any psychomotor disease were excluded from the study. The CPO-D and ceo-d indices were used to measure the prevalence and severity of caries. Results: The prevalence of dental caries was 65.6%, with the 9-year-old group having the highest prevalence at 13.9%. Regarding the severity of dental caries, according to the CPO-D index, 83.07% of the children had decayed teeth and 16.93% had f illed teeth. Regarding the ceo-d index, 74.51% of the children had decayed teeth, 12.78% had lost or extracted teeth, and 12.71% had filled teeth. Conclusions: A high prevalence of dental caries was found in children aged 6 to 12 who attend the Viñani Health Center. The severity of dental caries, according to the CPO-D index, was very low and low according to the ceo-d index.