Comparison of the prevalence of dental caries in 12-15 year-old children with dental fluorosis and those without dental fluorosis from Juja in rural Kenya

Abstract

Objective: To determine any association between varying degrees of dental fluorosis and dental caries in children aged 12-15 years in a rural community in Kenya. Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting: A rural school in the central province of Kenya. Subjects: Two hundred and twenty five primary school children aged 12-15 years consisting of 100 males and 125 females. Results: A total of 225 children were included in the study, of these 125 were males and 100 were females and the age range was 12-15 years with a mean of 13.28 + 1.11SD. The prevalence of caries was 39.1% and the mean DMFT of the sample population was 1.51 + 2.25SD. The mean decayed component was 1.48 and none of the children had any filled teeth. The mean DMFT of the children with fluorosis and those without fluorosis was 1.44 and 1.55 respectively. Conclusion: There was no association between dental fluorosis and dental caries. Though there was no association between dental fluorosis and caries experience.