Early Childhood Caries Experience of Pre-School Children with Down’s Syndrome in Johannesburg, South Africa: a Pilot Study

Introduction: In South Africa information on the dental caries experiences of pre-school children with Down’s syndrome (DS) has not been reported. The aims of the study reported and discussed in this paper were to: (1) determine the dental caries status among pre-school children with DS; (2) identify the unmet treatment needs of these children by comparing the dmft/DMFT data with the Significant Caries Index (SiC). Methods: For the cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 67 children attending four Down Syndrome Association (Gauteng) outreach sites in Johannesburg was used. The mean age of the participants was four years (SD 3.2) and the majority were male (67%). The dental caries status of each child was identified by using the dmft/DMFT index of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the SiC Index. The information obtained was used to compare the dental caries status of these 67 DS children with that of children of similar ages as recorded in the 1999-2002 National Children’s Oral Health Survey (NCOHS). Results: The caries prevalence in the study population was 26% and the unmet treatment needs rate was 100%. Male participants had a higher caries prevalence (31%) than females (14%), although the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The mean dmft score was 1.29 (SD 3.08) and no significant difference was noted between the genders. There was a significant difference between the SiC index score 3.90 (SD 4.41) when compared to the mean dmft score (p=0.002). Comparison of the dental caries status of pre-school DS children with the general population of child renin the NCOHS survey revealed that children with DS had a lower dental caries scorebuta higher untreated caries score. Conclusion: The finding that none of the pre-school DS children with dental caries had received treatment is a concern for the health system which needs to be addressed.