Prevalence and Severity of Dental Caries and Fluorosis in 8 Year-old Children With or Without Fluoride Supplementation

Ismael Yévenes; Gisela Zillmann; Tamara Ellicker; Pamela Espinoza; Gloria Xaus; Patricia Cisternas; Bárbara Cárdenas & Pedro Castillo

Summary

One of the most effective and studied measures in the prevention of caries is the use of fluoride, which has the property to reduce their incidence and severity. In Chile, 75 % of the population receives it the drinking water. In 1984, WHO recommended the use of milk as an alternative vehicle. In Chile, the Fluoridated School Feeding Program (FSFP) was introduced in 1994, using this alternative in rural areas without fluoride in water. The objective of the study was to compare prevalence and severity of dental caries and dental fluorosis in 8-year-old children of four state schools: two with fluoride supplementation in drinking water or milk and two without any fluoride program. Epidemiological, descriptive, comparative, observational and cross-sectional study with a sample of 140 8-year-old children, with no systemic diseases and who had lived in the same place since birth: 50 schoolchildren from an area with fluoridated water; 40 from an area with fluoridated milk and 50 from a zone without supplementation of F. The percentage of caries-free children was obtained with the methodology described by the WHO, for severity the dmft and DMFT indexes were used. To quantify the prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis, Dean Index was used. 38 % of the children were caries-free in the community with fluoridated water (CFW); 0 % in the community with fluoridated milk (FSFP) and 10 % in the community with no fluoride program established (CNF). The difference between CFW with CNF is statistically significant (p<0.05). The prevalence of fluorosis is significantly higher for CFW (48.8 %) than FSFP (35 %) and CNF (16 %). Conclusion: The contribution of fluoride in drinking water causes a decrease in the prevalence and severity of dental caries in children of 8 years of age, and an increase in the prevalence of dental fluorosis.

KEY WORDS: Dental caries; Fluorosis; Children; Fluoride supplementation.

How to cite this article

YÉVENES, I.; ZILLMANN, G.; ELLICKER, T.; ESPINOZA, P.; XAUS, G.; CISTERNAS, P.; CÁRDENAS, B. & CASTILLO, P. Prevalence and severity of dental caries and fluorosis in 8 year-old children with or without fluoride supplementation. Int. J. Odontostomat., 13(1):46-50, 2019.