Abstract
Introduction: Dental caries is one of the most prevalent oral diseases affecting most individuals worldwide during their life course despite being largely preventable. It shares many common risk factors, social and commercial determinants with non-communicable diseases. A recent national oral survey of school children in 2017 demonstrated that dental caries status of school children in Sarawak was generally poor compared to other states. There was no data at division and district levels, which is important for evidence-based planning of school oral health service in big states such as Sarawak with diverse ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and lifestyles. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine dental caries status and treatment needs of 12-year-old school children under the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) comprehensive incremental oral health care program in Sibu Division, Sarawak from 2015 to 2019. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involved five different cohorts of 12-year-old school children enrolled in the Ministry of Education (MOE) primary schools in Sibu Division from 2015 to 2019. Data was extracted from the MOH Health Information Management System (HIMS) - Oral Health Sub-System. The diagnosis and reporting of dental caries status followed the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria using the Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index. Results: There was an upward trend of caries free status among five different cohorts of 12-year-old school children over five-year period, from 64.2% (2015) to 71.0% (2019). On contrary, dental caries experience (mean DMFT) showed a reducing trend from 0.79 in 2015 to 0.58 in 2019. Dental caries treatment needs based on the mean decayed teeth (mean D) exhibited decreasing trend from 0.22 (2015) to 0.14 (2019). Discussion: Despite provision of dental treatment annually since Primary 1 in Sibu Division, there was still more than a quarter of them did not remain caries free by 2019. More pragmatic multi-sectoral approaches should be taken to address social and commercial determinants of dental caries to elevate oral health status of school children in Sibu Division to be on par with the Peninsular counterparts. It is hoped that this can chart the way forwards for sustainable oral health and lifetime smile, while ensuring strengthening of universal oral health coverage. Efforts should be taken to champion that all sectors are related to oral health for the best buy interventions. In conclusion, dental caries status of 12-year-olds in Sibu Division showed gradual improvement from 2015 to 2019. However, more need to be done to ensure sustainable orally-fit status following treatment completion.
Links
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-124.pdf
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed1909[...]
BibTeX (Download)
@proceedings{APCPH2022-P-124,
title = {Trends of Dental Caries Status of 12-Year-old School Children in Sibu Division, Sarawak 2015-2019},
author = {Wong Siong Ting and Asmawati Sharkawi and Susan Mowe and Norkhafizah Saddki},
url = {https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-124.pdf
https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed19095a89ed/APCPH2022-P-124-0b044d75c22f2690937a9c6426ad9d3d.pdf},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-02},
urldate = {2022-08-02},
issue = {7},
abstract = {Introduction: Dental caries is one of the most prevalent oral diseases affecting most individuals worldwide during their life course despite being largely preventable. It shares many common risk factors, social and commercial determinants with non-communicable diseases. A recent national oral survey of school children in 2017 demonstrated that dental caries status of school children in Sarawak was generally poor compared to other states. There was no data at division and district levels, which is important for evidence-based planning of school oral health service in big states such as Sarawak with diverse ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and lifestyles. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine dental caries status and treatment needs of 12-year-old school children under the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) comprehensive incremental oral health care program in Sibu Division, Sarawak from 2015 to 2019. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involved five different cohorts of 12-year-old school children enrolled in the Ministry of Education (MOE) primary schools in Sibu Division from 2015 to 2019. Data was extracted from the MOH Health Information Management System (HIMS) - Oral Health Sub-System. The diagnosis and reporting of dental caries status followed the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria using the Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index. Results: There was an upward trend of caries free status among five different cohorts of 12-year-old school children over five-year period, from 64.2% (2015) to 71.0% (2019). On contrary, dental caries experience (mean DMFT) showed a reducing trend from 0.79 in 2015 to 0.58 in 2019. Dental caries treatment needs based on the mean decayed teeth (mean D) exhibited decreasing trend from 0.22 (2015) to 0.14 (2019). Discussion: Despite provision of dental treatment annually since Primary 1 in Sibu Division, there was still more than a quarter of them did not remain caries free by 2019. More pragmatic multi-sectoral approaches should be taken to address social and commercial determinants of dental caries to elevate oral health status of school children in Sibu Division to be on par with the Peninsular counterparts. It is hoped that this can chart the way forwards for sustainable oral health and lifetime smile, while ensuring strengthening of universal oral health coverage. Efforts should be taken to champion that all sectors are related to oral health for the best buy interventions. In conclusion, dental caries status of 12-year-olds in Sibu Division showed gradual improvement from 2015 to 2019. However, more need to be done to ensure sustainable orally-fit status following treatment completion.},
howpublished = {published online at https://apcph.cphm.my},
note = {Type: POSTER PRESENTATION; Organisation: Sibu Divisional Dental Office, Ministry of Health Malaysia; Sibu Divisional Health Office, Ministry of Health Malaysia; School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia},
keywords = {caries free, Dental caries, DMFT, Sarawak, Sibu},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}