State of the oral health in non-cooperative children

The oral health state of children treated under general anaesthesia in the year 2002 was evaluated.The number of treated children was 51, the mean age 9.73. The reasons for the treatment under general anaesthesia were serious systemic diseases or anxiety. The study results demonstrated high caries experience in non-cooperative and handicapped children. DMFT index in this group was 4.29, with D = 3.82 (81%), F = 0.29 (6.8%), E = 0.18(4.2%), RI value was 47.37%. All the obtained values are very high in comparison to the data reported for a common corresponding population. Especially high data were found in extracted teeth E = 0.18 while in the corresponding children population the value of 0.01 was reported. Higher attention should be paid to the dental care for handicapped and non-cooperative children. Keywords: non-cooperative children, dentistry, oral epidemiology, caries experience