Dental caries experience in primary school-age children following "Students' Oral Health Promotion Program", Iran.

OBJECTIVES This study aimed at determining the changes in dental caries experience in elementary school-age children following five years of the Students' Oral Health Promotion Program implementation. METHODS In the present study, totally 2920 elementary school students participated and were selected by multistage cluster sampling. Based on the WHO Oral Health Survey Methods manual (4th edition), dental caries indices in primary and permanent teeth were assessed by clinical examination in schools. Data on socio-demographic characteristics and dental factors were collected through interviews based on questionnaire. The logistic and linear regression was used for data analysis. RESULTS The mean (SD) age of the elementary school children was 9.45 (1.71) years, and 1481 (50.7%) were boys. There was a significant difference between genders, age, dental pain experience, and student's parent supervision with dmft, DMFT and their caries status. For one year increase in age 1.67 times increase in DMFT and 0.33 decrease in dmft was predicted. Girls had higher odds of DMFT. In contrast, the odds of dmft for girls were significantly lower compared to boys. Students with dental pain experience had significantly higher odds of DMFT and dmft. The Significant Caries Index (SiC) score for permanent dentition in 12 years old children was 5.47. Sex was significantly correlated with SiC index. The odds of developing Sic was 0.98 times lower in girls than in boys. CONCLUSIONS Dental caries was identified as a major public health problem among the elementary school students despite the implementation of the national project for oral health promotion.