Dental caries prevalence in children attending special needs schools in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa.

INTRODUCTION: Anecdotal evidence from clinical data in Johannesburg suggests that there is a high burden of dental caries among children with special health care needs (CSHCN) in Johannesburg. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of dental caries and Unmet Treatment Needs in children with cerebral palsy, hearing, learning and mental disabilities attending special needs schools in Johannesburg and to compare these with data from the National Children's Oral Health Survey (NCOHS) METHODS: This cross-sectional analytical study comprised of 882 children attending five special needs schools in Johannesburg. Stratified randomised sampling of the participating schools was done and the schools were stratified by disability. Caries status was recorded via the dmft/DMFT index using WHO criteria and guidelines. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 10.5 years; with a caries prevalence of 27.55% and 33.56% in the primary and permanent dentition respectively. The highest unmet treatment need of 100% was found in the permanent dentition of the hearing impaired group followed by 90.77% in the primary dentition of the cerebral palsy group. In general no significant difference was found when the dmft/DMFT for CSHCN and NCOHS were compared except in the hearing impaired age groups four to five and six (both primary dentition) where significantly higher dmft scores (3.58 vs. 2.4; 3.85 vs. 2.9; p < 0.05) were found. CONCLUSION: Children with special health care needs had lower caries prevalence compared with the general population and higher unmet treatment needs regardless of the type of disability.

Caries prevalence among HIV-infected children between four and ten years old at a paediatric virology out-patients ward in Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa.

INTRODUCTION: There remains controversy in the literature as to whether children with HIV are at greater risk for caries than healthy children. OBJECTIVES: To determine the caries prevalence and unmet treatment needs (UTN) in a cohort of HIV+ive children between the ages of four and ten years who were attending the Charlotte Maxeke Paediatric Virology out-patients ward and to compare the results with the data of the National Children's Oral Health Survey (NCOHS). METHODS: This descriptive, analytic study comprised of a sample of 277 children attending the Paediatric Virology out patients ward at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital over a one year period. The caries status was measured using WHO guidelines and criteria. RESULTS: Among the 93 children aged between four and five years, the caries prevalence of the primary dentition was 70.9%; the dmft was 5.1 and the UTN was 99.6%. In the 62 six year olds and 122 seven to ten year olds, the caries prevalence in the primary teeth was 62.9% and 67.2%; the dmft was 4.2 and 4 and the UTN 100% and 87.8% respectively. The mean dmft of the four, five and six year olds was significantly higher than those reported in the NCOHS. The four, five and sx-year old HIV positive children had a 1.4 times higher risk of caries development than children from the general population (p < 0.002). CONCLUSION: This cohort of HIV-infected children had significantly higher caries prevalence, dmft and UTN than did children from the general population.