Caries and dental erosion: are Soroti children and adolescents at risk from  increased soft-drink availability in Uganda?

Jordan Cheng, Karen Campbell
1. Faculty of Dentistry, University of British Columbia, Canada.
2. Office of Pediatric Surgical Evaluation and Innovation, British Columbia, Canada.
3. Department of Pediatric Dentistry, British Columbia Children’s Hospital, Canada.
All authors have made substantive contribution to this study and/or manuscript, and all have
reviewed the final paper prior to its submission.

Abstract:
Objective: An initial field study to investigate dental caries and dental erosion in children and adolescents in the community of  Soroti, Uganda.

Methods: A stratified two-stage cluster sample of 84 children (ages 8-10) and adolescents (ages 16-19) were recruited. A survey  was undertaken to assess the state of determinants of oral health, oral hygiene practices, and soft-drink and sweetened-tea consumption. Intra-oral photographs were taken and reviewed to measure Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) and dental erosion.

Results: A significant difference was observed in DMFT between children and adolescents (3.7 ± 2.7 versus 2.1 ± 2.4 p=.02). A  trend of lower erosion scores was seen in children compared to adolescents. Greater frequency of sweetened-tea consumption  over soft-drinks was noted in both groups.

Conclusion: This study did not reveal any relationship between different levels of cariogenic beverage consumption and DMFT  or dental erosion in this sample group.

Keywords: Caries , dental erosion, soft-drink availability in Uganda.