Dental caries prevalence among 12-14 year-old schoolchildren in Riyadh: A 14 year follow-up study of the Oral Health Survey of Saudi Arabia Phase I

The objective of this study was to assess the changes in dental caries status among 12-14 year-old schoolchildren in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, fourteen years after the conduct of an Oral Health Survey of Saudi Arabia Phase I. A total of 205 students of the first grade of intermediate schools (12-14 years of age) were randomly selected, using stratified random sampling from 16 schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The children were examined, by two trained examiners, for dental caries using the World Health Organization criteria. Of the total sample, only 6.3% were caries free showing that the caries prevalence was 93.7%. The mean DMFT value for the total sample was 5.94 (± 3.95). Male students had a significantly higher mean DMFT value (7.20 ± 3.89) than the female students (4.66 ± 3.59) (P