Findings from a study in a defined urban population in South-Western Nigeria using the PUFA index.

Abstract

Introduction: The burden of untreated caries in developing countries and among underserved communities is high. This study aims to assess the prevalence and severity of untreated caries among six-year-old pupils using the pufa index in an urban population in South-west Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in Ibadan, capital city of Oyo state in South-west Nigeria. The random selection was done via a ballot system and each selected school, a cluster sampling technique was used, capturing all the six-year-old pupils in the school. A total of two thousand one hundred and forty-nine (2149) pupils were screened from thirty randomly selected schools. A proforma was filled for each consenting participant. Results: among the screened population, the mean dmft/DMFT was 0.21 ±0.82 and 0.02±0.16 respectively. Caries was seen in 9.3% of those screened (200 eligible participants) and the prevalence of pufa in the eligible group was 51% with the mean pufa/PUFA were 0.88±1.2 and 0.05±0.22 respectively. The females accounted for 56% of the participants. The untreated caries-pufa ratio was calculated at 43.4%. Conclusion: the untreated caries burden in this environment is high and attention needs to be focused on prevention of common oral health problems, development and implementation of school based oral health policies and provision of accessible as well as affordable oral health care.