BACKGROUND Dental caries is the result of a complex interplay among environmental, behavioral, and genetic factors, with distinct patterns of decay likely due to specific etiologies. Therefore, global measures of decay, such as the DMFS index, may not be optimal for identifying risk factors that manifest as specific decay patterns, especially if the risk factors such as genetic susceptibility l...

OBJECTIVE The purposes of this study were to (1) quantify dentists' practice patterns regarding caries prevention and (2) test the hypothesis that certain dentists' characteristics are associated with these practice patterns. DESIGN The study used a cross-sectional study design consisting of a questionnaire survey. PARTICIPANTS The study queried dentists who worked in outpatient dental prac...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and experience of early childhood caries among 5- to 6-year-old children in Southeast Asia. METHODS A literature search was conducted of three electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE and ISI Web of Science) to identify publications from the years 2006 to 2015. Additional hand searches of government reports and national studies were pe...

Dental caries occurrence, distribution, oral health status and corresponding treatment needs in 12 - 15 year old children are useful tools for evaluation of oral health. Dental caries status along with its treatment needs was recorded according to World Health Organization (WHO) index (1997) in 366 children from five schools within Jorpati Village Development Committee (VDC), Kathmandu. Dental ...

BACKGROUND This article reviews the caries profile for children in Nigeria and proposes an appropriate framework for addressing the silent caries epidemic. DISCUSSION We reviewed the caries prevalence among children in Nigeria, assessed the existing responses to the caries epidemic including the national oral healthcare delivery situation in the country and discussed the current caries manage...

The purpose of this study was to assess the longitudinal relationships between enamel hypoplasia and caries experience of primary second molars. The study sample was 491 subjects who received dental examinations at both age 5 and 9 by the calibrated examiners. Four primary second molars (n = 1,892) were scored for the presence of enamel hypoplasia for each participant. Caries presence and numbe...

The ecological plaque hypothesis for the aetiopathogenesis of caries implies a microbial shift towards a more acidogenic and aciduric dental plaque microflora, due to a frequent carbohydrate intake. Certain plaque bacteria exhibit metabolic activity, at a low pH. A correlation exists between the increased numbers of some aciduric bacterial species, e.g. mutans streptococci and lactobacilli, and...

BACKGROUND Dental caries has been strongly associated with mutans streptococci, particularly Streptococcus mutans and S. sobrinus. Many studies have linked these organisms to the carious process and counts of mutans streptococci have been used to monitor caries risk. The high levels of caries generally found in Iceland have enabled several studies to be performed on the variation within strains...

In this paper we present the findings of a study designed to test the usefulness of an ecological model containing factors believed to affect children's oral health both directly and indirectly. It has long been accepted that there are multiple factors involved in the etiology of dental disease-in this case, caries. However, most dental research uses explanatory models involving a limited range...