Dental caries prevalence in 6-7 year-old schoolchildren in Riyadh region: A comparative study with the 1987 Oral Health Survey of Saudi Arabia Phase I.

Objectives: To determine the magnitude and severity of dental caries prevalence in 6-7 year-old schoolchildren in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, fourteen years after the conduct of the Oral Health Survey of Saudi Arabia Phase I. Materials and Methods: Six hundred and two elementary school first graders 6-7 year-old children were randomly selected using stratified cluster random sampling from 18 schools in Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia. All the children were examined for caries using World Health Organization oral health survey criteria. Results: Of the total sample, only 5.6% were free of caries. The mean dmft index of the total sample was 7.34 (±4.02). The mean dmft for boys (8.13) was significantly higher than the one for girls (6.48) (P<0.0001). The rural children demonstrated a significantly lower dmft (6.28) than the urban (7.69) (P