Prevalencia de caries dental y fluorosis en áreas de fluorosis endémica en el Estado Portuguesa, Venezuela / Prevalence of dental caries and flurosis endemic fluorosis areas of Portuguesa State, Venezuela

Determinar la prevalencia y severidad de caries y fluorosis dental en una zona de fluorosis endémica en Portuguesa. 187 individuos entre 2-62 años de edad de cuatro comunidades del Municipio Santa Rosalía fueron evaluados para caries dental según el índice CPOD/ceo (OMS) y para fluorosis dental de acuerdo al Índice de Dean. Todos los participantes en la presente investigación firmaron un consentimiento informado. Cada paciente respondió un cuestionario estructurado a tal fin y los datos fueron registrados. El examen clínico fue realizado por un examinador calibrado y se utilizó sonda WHO, espejo plano #5 y luz natural. Según el género, de los 187 pacientes, 96 fueron masculino (51%) y 91 femeninos (49%) y 90,9% de la población estudiada pertenecía a los estratos 4 y 5 de Graffar. El 69% de pacientes estaban libres de caries dental y los índices promedio CPOD y ceo fueron 1,7±3,62 y 0,41±1,15, respectivamente siendo el índice CPOD en Cogote significativamente menor (p<0,05) al compararlos con los observados en San Pablo y Playón (p>0,05), pero sin diferencias significativas al compararlo con el de Punto Fijo. El 76,9% de los individuos evaluados presentaban fluorosis dental siendo el grado de severidad promedio la categoría de moderado (Grado 4). Se le debe dar una alta prioridad a la defluoruración del agua, y en caso de que no sea posible, se debe proveer a la población de agua con concentraciones de fluoruro óptimas. No se observó asociación entre el grado de severidad de fluorosis dental y los niveles de fluoruro en el agua. Estudio parcialmente financiado por la Facultad de Odontología, UCV.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of dental caries and fluorosis in an endemic area of Portuguesa State. One hundred eighty seven individuals, age ranging between 2-62 years, from four communities of Santa Rosalía Municipality were evaluated for dental caries index DMFT/dmf according to the WHO criteria and dental fluorosis using the Dean index. All participants signed the written consent to be enrolled for the study. The clinical examination was done by a calibrated examiner using the WHO probe, mirror #5 and natural light. The results from the study showed that 96/187 (51%) were male and 91/187 (49%) were female. According to socioeconomic status 90.9% of the studied population was level 4 and 5 according to Graffar criteria. Sixty nine percent of the patient was dental caries free and the mean indexes DMFT/dmf were 1.7±3.62 and 0.41±1.15, respectively. The lower DMFT scores were observed in Cogote (p<0.05) with statistical significant differences when compared to San Pablo and Playón but without differences when compares to Punto Fijo community (p>0.05). When analyzing the presence of dental fluorosis, 76.9% of the subjects had the condition being moderate (Grade 4). We may conclude that water defluoridation is of high priority in these communities, as well as to provide the population with optimal fluoride concentration in water. Our results indicate the absence of association between the fluoride concentration for water consumption and the dental fluorosis severity in endemic areas. Study partially supported by the Faculty of Dentistry, UCV.

Fluorosis in subjects belonging to different ethnic groups of Rajasthan, India.

A total of 11205 and 7416 subjects (both sexes) belonging to different ethnic groups viz., Scheduled tribes (S.T.), Scheduled castes (S.C.) and General Castes (G.C.) of Dungarpur and Udaipur districts of Southern Rajasthan (India), respectively were examined for evidence of dental and skeletal fluorosis and observed the relative prevalence and severness of fluoride (F) toxicity in these ethnic groups. An overall and the highest prevalence of dental and skeletal fluorosis (69.0% and 27.7% respectively) were observed in the subjects of S.T. followed by 57.2% and 20.8% in S.C. and 38.6% and 9.3% in G.C. ethnic group. The severity of fluorosis in these groups have also been observed. The severity of dental fluorosis was found 28.1% in S.T., 24.6% in S.C. and 22.0% in G.C. whereas, the severity of skeletal fluorosis varied from 54.2% in S.T., 46.2% in S.C. to 32.6%, in G.C. These data were also analysed statistically and found to be highly positive correlation (r = + 1.00; p<0.001). The variation in the prevalence of fluorosis in these ethnic groups is related with the variation in the fluoride exposure through nutritional components of diet and feeding habits. X-rays of different regions of the tribal subjects (S.T.) also showed the maximum calcification in the ligaments and interosseous membranes as well as increased mass and density of bones. These radiological changes were less sever in the individuals of G.C. Besides, the F concentration, the water quality (alkalinity, total hardness, pH, NO3 etc.) is also influence and accelerate the prevalence and severness of fluorosis which has also been focussed in the present communication.