Status of the permanent first molars among 1838 Saudi School children.

Dental caries is an infectious disease that affects human's teeth. The prevalence of denial caries in Saudi children has been reported in different studies to be high. Preventive methods should be directed to reduce the incidence of dental caries. The purpose was to assess the status of the permanent first molars in a group of Saudi children in Riyadh and AI-Qaseem areas. 1838 (M=939, F=899) Saudi children were examined in their schools, which were selected randomly. Participants were selected from three age groups namely: 6-7 years, 12-14 years and 15-19 year-old. The diagnosis of the dental caries was at cavitation stage according to WHO criteria. Results showed that caries incidence increases by age Approximately, 50% of children are affected with caries lesions in all the four Permanent first molars. Significant difference was found between Riyadh and AI-Qaseem area (P