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Cited by 24Dental Health and Care UtilizationPediatric health and respiratory diseasesdental development and anomalies

Prevalence and treatment needs for early childhood caries among 3–5-year-old children from a rural community in Uganda

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Musinguzi, Norman, Kemoli, Arthur, Okullo, Isaac·2019·Frontiers in Public Health
DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00259PMC PMC6759934
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Abstract

Introduction Early Childhood caries (ECC) is the term used to describe dental caries in children aged 71 months and below. ECC causes a lot of pain and discomfort in the affected children and is expensive to treat. There is limited data on the prevalence of ECC in preschool children resident in the rural Uganda. Aim: To determine the prevalence and treatment needs for ECC among 3-5-year-old nursery school children in a rural community in Rukungiri District, Uganda. Study design: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 432 nursery school children aged 3-5 years from rural Nyakagyeme sub-county in Ugandan, whose parent/guardians provided Informed consent for their participation. The examination of the participants was done under field conditions and the findings were recorded on individualised modified WHO Oral Health Assessment Forms for children. Data Analysis: The data gathered were analysed using Windows SPSS Version 23.0 computer programme, and descriptive results for the variables obtained and Mann Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests used to compare and relate the variables. The P<0.05 was considered statistically significant with the Confidence interval set at 95%. The findings were presented in Tables and Figures. Results A total of 230 (53.2%) male and 202 (46.6%) female participants, with 118 (27.3%), 145 (33.6%), 169 (39.1%) aged 3, 4, and 5 years old respectively, participated in the study. The prevalence of ECC among the participants was 48.6%, with 11.6%, 18.5% and 18.5% recorded for the 3-, 4-, and 5-year old children respectively. The male participants had a higher prevalence (26.1%) than the female counterparts (22.5%). The mean ‘dmft’ for the participants was 2.04 (SD=3.01) with the decay component (dt) contributing to 88.6% of the dental caries experience. The mean ‘dmft’ was 1.79, 2.37 and 1.91 for the 3-, 4- and 5-year old children respectively Conclusion: The prevalence of ECC of 48.6% was moderate in this study population. The high level of unmet treatment need as exemplified by the high dental caries experience, was a cause for concern as this forms a risk factor for caries in the permanent dentition. Key words: Early Childhood caries, Treatment needs, Nursery school children

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  • In Uganda, among 3-5-year-old children, early childhood caries prevalence was 48.6% with a mean DMFT of 2.04.

    “In Uganda, a separate study among 3–5-year-old children found an early childhood caries (ECC) prevalence of 48.6% with a mean DMFT of 2.04 (19).”

    From Oral health in Africa: a neglected public health priority (2026) · cites this paper as [19]

    The Abstract and Results > Prevalence of ECC/Dental Caries Experience report 48.6% prevalence and a mean of 2.04 among the 3–5-year-old participants. The source calls the measure “dmft” (primary teeth), not “DMFT” (permanent teeth). (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [6]Dean JA Jones J Walker Vinson LQA McDonald and Avery's Dentistry for the Child and Adolescent - (Tenth Edition). ScienceDirect: Elsevier Inc (2016). Available online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780323287456

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Authors
Musinguzi, N., Kemoli, A., & Okullo, I.
Affiliations
  • Makerere University (UG)
  • University of Nairobi (KE)
Corresponding author
Musinguzi, Norman
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Public Health
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2019-09-18
Volume
7
Pages
259-259
ISSN
2296-2565 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpubh.2019.00259
PMC
PMC6759934
OpenAlex
W2970653932
Cited by
24
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3
FWCI
2.60
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Dentistry › Periodontics › Dental Health and Care Utilization
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Pediatric health and respiratory diseases
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › dental development and anomalies
Keywords
early childhood caries, prevalence, treatment needs, preschool children, rural children, DMFT index, caries experience, unmet dental care needs, oral health, Rukungiri District, Uganda

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