RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to describe caries prevalence and experience trends of permanent teeth among Singapore schoolchildren between 2007 and 2019. METHODS: Anonymized records of all 6-year-old Primary 1 (P1), 11-year-old Primary 6 (P6) and 14-year-old Secondary 3 (S3) before the start of each school year were extracted from the Integrated Dental Electronic Assessment System (IDEAS) by school level, ethnicity and sex. Prais-Winsten regression was used to assess trends of mean decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) and caries prevalence (% DMFT > 0) among the schoolchildren by school level, with reported Average Annual Percentage Change (AAPC) together with respective 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: In total, 519 471 P1, 566 573 P6 and 548 138 S3 were included during the above period, and the majority were comprised of Chinese children (P1: 67.2%, P6: 68.8% and S3: 71.0%, respectively). Overall, the prevalence of caries dropped from 6.9% in 2007 to 3.5% in 2019 among P1, from 34.5% in 2009 to 20.3% in 2019 among P6 and from 41.5% in 2007 to 33.5% in 2019 among S3 schoolchildren. The mean DMFT reduced from 0.11 to 0.05 among P1, 0.72 to 0.35 among P6 and 1.05 to 0.76 among S3 schoolchildren during the same period. Caries prevalence and mean DMFT were consistently higher among girls. On average, caries prevalence decreased 5% per year in P1 (AAPC -5.0 [95% CI: -6.1, -3.9]) and P6 (AAPC -4.9 [95% CI: -5.7, -4.1]) and 2% among S3 (AAPC -2.0 [95% CI: -3.5, -0.4]) schoolchildren. Caries prevalence decreased approximately 4% ~ 5% annually among P1 and P6 schoolchildren regardless of ethnicity. The average decrease in caries prevalence was lower (about 2%) among all ethnicities at S3 school level. CONCLUSION: Dental caries in permanent dentition of Singaporean schoolchildren had decreased from 2007 to 2019. However, the decrease observed among primary school students was more than double that among secondary schoolchildren.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: There is a lack of data on molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH) in Asia, but this is not an indication that MIH is rare in the Asian population. Early identification of MIH is important as affected teeth frequently display post-eruptive enamel loss which would result in rapid caries progression. AIM: This objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of MIH in Singaporean children. DESIGN: Patients were recruited from 30 schools across Singapore. All children were examined by a single dentist, and the judgement criteria used were based on the 2003 European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry criteria. RESULTS: A total of 1083 children; average age of 7.7 ± 0.3 years were examined. One hundred and thirty-five children (12.5%) had MIH. A significantly higher proportion of children of the Malay ethnicity had MIH, compared to Chinese children (P = 0.02). Post-eruptive enamel breakdown and the presence of atypical restorations were correlated with increasing number of MIH teeth/child (Rho= 0.599, P < 0.001) and the cumulative enamel opacity colour score (Rho = 0.601, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the role of ethnicity in MIH occurrence and that MIH severity may be influenced by the number of MIH teeth/child and the cumulative enamel opacity colour score.