Dental caries prevalence in Brazilian schoolchildren resident in Japan

Abstract

The Brazilian community in Japan is the third largest of the ethnic groups within the Japanese population. However, the oral health condition of Brazilian schoolchildren resident in Japan has not been documented previously. This study was carried out to assess the prevalence of dental caries in Brazilian schoolchildren resident in Japan. The study population comprised 296 schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years, attending Brazilian schools in Japan. Clinical examinations were performed by a single qualified examiner. The prevalence of dental caries found in this population was 64.9% (95% IC = 59.39 - 70.34%), the percentage of caries-free children being relatively high at 35.1% (95% IC = 29.7% - 40.6%). The mean decayed (D), missing (M), and filled (F) teeth (T) index at age 12 was 1.75 (95% IC = 1.03 - 2.47), and the mean dmft at age 6 was 3.50 (95% IC = 2.43 - 4.57). The proportion of treated teeth was higher than that of decayed teeth in both dentitions. With regard to the distribution of dental caries experience, only 8.4% of all schoolchildren had a DMFT > 3, suggesting a polarization phenomenon of dental caries in this population. Although the prevalence of dental caries among Brazilian school-children resident in Japan is lower than that of their Japanese counterparts, oral health programs are necessary for those children in whom the disease is prevalent and have higher treatment needs. (J. Oral Sci. 48, 51-57, 2006)