Caries epidemiology of the primary teeth in children from 3- to 8-years of age in Plovdiv.

Introduction: The need of current data on the epidemiology of caries of the primary teeth in 3- and 8-year-old children and establishing the trends in the prevalence of this disease in the last 18 years in Plovdiv determines the aim of the study.

Material And Methods: The study includes 1124 children--536 girls and 588 boys from randomly selected kindergartens and schools in Plovdiv. The carious and filled primary teeth were registered (df). The following indicators were determined: prevalence of caries per persons (Ep), prevalence of caries per teeth (Et) and incidence of caries per teeth (It).

Results: The results show that the values of caries indicators increase with age: Ep in 3-year-old children is 23.13%, while in 8-year olds--83.22%. Et in 3-year-old children is 3.09%, while in 8-year olds--29.43%. The percentage of caries-free individuals in the target age group of WHO--5-year-old children is 47.32%.

Conclusions: A trend of decrease of the prevalence and incidence of caries of the primary teeth is ascertained in children from 3 to 8 years of age in Plovdiv in the last 18 years. The disease is limited to an increasingly narrower children group.