ABSTRACT
Introduction: Epidemiological surveys provide a key basis for assessing current and future oral health care needs of a population by yielding reliable data for designing national or regional health programs 12. Objective: To assess the oral health status of 12-year-old adolescents by applying DMFT index in the city of Joinville, SC, who took part in the PEW Health Project 2010-2011 and designing a comparative study between 2003 and 2010 national, state, municipal and other DMFT surveys for this same age range. Material and methods: Analytical cross-sectional observational study. Dental health assessment tool used was DMFT and deft index. The codes and criteria used for the survey used the tooth as a study unit according to methodology proposed by WHO and reported in the SB-Brazil Assessor's Manual ³. Sample size was 194 students attending public junior high school. Chi-square test for qualitative variables and Student's t test for quantitative variables were used, with two-tailed significance level of 5%. Results: DMFT was 0.84, standard deviation 1.31 and confidence interval 0.65 (lowest) and 1.02 (highest). Rate of cavity-free children or zero DMFT was 58.8%, a total of 114 children. Conclusion: The students of the city of Joinville, SC assessed by this study showed low cavity prevalence, thereby reaching WHO approved targets for 2010.