CARIES EXPERIENCE AND ORAL HYGIENE INDEX IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Introduction and Aim Oral health is integral to general health and should not be considered in isolation. Dental caries is the most common cause of the disturbances of normal functions in the oral cavity, respectively it is a lack of preventive and curative measures. Dental caries is a disease that affects all age groups, most commonly children. The purpose of the study is to determine the Caries experience and oral hygiene index in preschool children expressed by dmft-index end OHI-index. Material and methods The number of 488 children (2- to 6-year old) were randomly selected, in different kindergartens and during visiting the dental clinic in Prishtina, Fushe Kosova and Kastriot, in period 2014-2016. Dental caries and treatment needs were evaluated using standard WHO oral survey methods. The teeth were clinically examined with standard dental instruments using visual-tactile method under standard dental light. Clinical indexes of decayed, missed, and filled teeth (dmft) were recorded. The plaque test of Greene-Vermillion was used. Diagnostic criteria was calibrated, with inter-examiner reliability resulting in kappa index. The collected data were entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 13). The level of statistical significance was set at P=0.05. Results In total, 488 preschool children were examined, expressed by gender, 240 female and 248 mails. The mean deft of preschool children was 6.1. The caries prevalence for 2- to 6-year-old preschool children was 92%. The 488 examined preschool children revealed an early childhood caries (ECC) prevalence of 21%. The mean deft value for children with ECC was 11.5. There is a high level of negligence in the oral hygiene of our children. The mean plaque test was 1.3. Conclusion Oral health is integral to general health and should not be considered in isolation. Our results showed a high caries prevalence among children. The number of untreated teeth was very high. The bad oral health status in children indicating a need for an extensive program of primary oral health care. It is important to introduce oral health promotion, especially from an educational perspective.