ABSTRACT
The most common disease of oral cavity is dental caries. Dental caries cause significant economical loss due to heavy expenses of dental treatment. The most important way to reduce this loss is attention to prevention measures. One of the criteria for evaluation of oral and dental health is DMFT index. The age groups of 35 to 44 and 6 to 12 years-old are the recommended age groups for determination of the DMFT index by the world health Organization. The aim of this study was to determine possible DMFT indices in Iranian villagers and Afghan refugees living in villages of Isfahan province aged 35 to 44 and 6 to 12 years. Two hundred and twenty women [110 Iranian and 110 Afghan ] and 256 men [128 Iranian and 128 Afghan] were examined for DMFT index. For reduction of the influence of Iran environment on the index, only the last five years refugees were examined. Only 20 cases [10 girls and 10 boys] of 6-12 years old Afghan children were available so they were compared with 20 [10 girls an d 10 boys] Iranian village children. None of the cases examined had the regular habit tooth brushing. T-student test was used for statistical analysis. DMFT indices were 3.7 +/- 2.6 and 0.6 +/- 1 in Iranian and Afghan boys respectively [t= 3.5] [significant correlation, P<0.01].DT, MT, FT and DMFT indices were 3.3 +/- 2.5, 3.9 +/- 3.8 [t=1.6], 5.5 +/- 6.9, 1.9 +/- 4 [t=5.2], 0.9 +/- 2.4, 0.2 +/- 0.7 [t=3.4] and 9.7 +/- 6.5, 5.7 [t=5.3] in Iranian and Afghan men and 4 +/- 3.2, 4.7 +/- 4 [t=1.3], 5.5 +/- 7.2, 2.1 +/- 3.3 [t=4.5], 2.7 +/- 3.2, 0.05 +/- 0.2 [t=8.6] and 12.2 +/- 6.7, 7 +/- 5.2 [t= 6.6] in Iranian and Afghan women, respectively. Except for DT [not significant, P<0.05] the difference were significant in all other cases [P<0.01]. Ten percent of Afghan women and 15.6% of Afghan men were caries free. This was not the case for Iranian villagers. In addition, 4.5% and 3.9% of Iranian women and men were edentulous respectively, while this was null for Afghans. Iranian villagers consumed more sugar than Afghans. The results showed the significant resistance to dental earis in Afghan people. This resistance could be correlated to genetic make up and feeding habits