Oral Health Status Among 12-Year-Old Schoolchildren in Kosovo

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the oral health status of 12-year-old schoolchildren in Kosovo. Material and Methods: The study involved 1204 schoolchildren aged 12 years from urban and rural areas, from different cities of Kosovo. The questionnaire included demographic data, gender, residence, dental status, oral hygiene, and daily brushing habits. The feasibility of the questionnaire was verified replicating it on 10% of the sample. Daily brushing habits were reported to frequency: as once per day, twice a day and rarely. Caries status was recorded in permanent dentition as DMFT and Oral Hygiene Index - Simplified (OHI-S) was used to assess oral hygiene status. The analysis included occurrences and means. The differences among means were tested using the student t-test (p<0.05). Results: The highest mean and standard deviation of DMFT and OHI-S index was found among rural schoolboys 3.67 ± 1.98 and OHI-S 1.75. In total sample, 54.1% of them brush their teeth only once a day, 39.7 % brush their teeth twice a day and only 6.2 % rarely brush their teeth. Conclusion: Preventive measures are needed to improve dental health in 12 years old schoolchildren.

Sexual dimorphism in permanent maxillary central incisor in Kosovo: Albanian population / Dimorfismo sexual en los incisivos centrales superiores permanentes en una población albanesa de Kosovo

The aim of this study was to investigate the sexual dimorphism in permanent maxillary central incisor in Kosovo Albanian population using crown linear diameters, crown module (CM) and crown index (CI). The study sample consisted of 204 dental students, selected from the Dental School, Faculty of Medicine at University of Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo. The measurements of mesiodistal (MD) and buccolingual (BL) crown diameters of left and right permanent maxillary incisor (MCI) were taken in a dental casts using electronic digital caliper Boss, Hamburg ­ Germany, with accuracy± 0.01 mm. The descriptive statistics, t-test and percentage of sexual dimorphism in crown linear diameters and dental indexes of maxillary central incisor were calculated. The results showed a statistically significant difference in MD (p<0.01) and BL diameters (p<0.0001) of maxillary central incisor between males and females. BL diameter of maxillary central incisor showed greater sexual dimorphism (4.78 %) than mesiodistal diameter (2.76 %). CM presented with a higher level of sexual dimorphism (3.76 %) comparing to CI (1.89 %). The findings of this study demonstrated sexual dental dimorphism in crown linear diameters and dental indexes in maxillary central incisor in Kosovo-Albanian population.

El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar el dimorfismo sexual en el diente incisivo central superior permanente en una población albanesa de Kosovo utilizando diámetros lineales de las copas, módulo de corona (MC) y el índice de la corona (IC). La muestra del estudio consistió en 204 estudiantes de odontología, seleccionados de la Escuela de Odontología, Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Pristina, República de Kosovo. Se tomaron mediciones mesiodistales (MD) y diámetros bucolinguales (BL) de la corona de los dientes incisivos superiores permanentes izquierdo y derecho, en modelos dentales, utilizando un calibrador digital electrónico Boss (Hamburgo ­ Alemania) con una precisión de ± 0,01 mm. Se calculó la estadística descriptiva, t-test y porcentaje de dimorfismo sexual en los diámetros lineales de coronas dentales y los índices del diente incisivo central superior. Los resultados mostraron una diferencia estadísticamente significativa en MD (p <0,01) y diámetros BL (p <0,0001) del diente incisivo central superior entre hombres y mujeres. Se observó un mayor dimorfismo sexual (4,78 %) en el diámetro BL del diente incisivo central superior, que en el diámetro mesiodistal (2,76 %). El MC presentó un nivel mayor de dimorfismo sexual (3,76 %) en comparación con IC (1,89 %). Los resultados de este estudio demostraron la existencia de dimorfismo sexual en los diámetros lineales de la corona dental y de los índices dentales correspondientes al diente incisivo central superior en la población albanesa de Kosovo.