Trends in dental caries and missing teeth in adult patients in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The a im of the study was to determine dental caries prevalence and severity among adult patients attending Al-Ahsa Dental Center in Al-Ahsa Region of Saudi Arabia . A total of 544 adult patients, 4 2 % males and 58 % females with a mean age of 42.7 ± 1 8.1 years, were examined for dental caries utilizing W H O criteria for diagnosis of dental caries. The caries prevalence among the sample was 8 9 . 2% with a mean DMFT score of 13.24±11.53. The mean DMFT scores of the patients f r om urban areas (14.03±12.11) w e r e significantly higher than patients f r om rural areas (11.39 ± 9.84) (P<0.01). Missing teeth was the major component of the total DMFT score. About 1 7% of t he patients were edentulous. However, more than half (56.8%) of the patients above 61 years w e r e edentulous. In conclusion, the caries prevalence and severity were very high among the subjects studied.