342. Analysis of the National Study of Prevalence of Oral Diseases in 2008 (Part 7)

Oral diseases in childhood and adolescence

* * *

The National Study of Prevalence of Oral Diseases 2008 identifies tooth decay and disease periodontist in children and young Portuguese, which comes on top of fluorosis in certain geographic areas.

The calculation of the indices of dental caries has shown that its value grows with increasing age of children and young people, which can assume a condition attached to a neglect of oral health as children and young people grow and / or greater attention to oral health of children when they are smaller. We can not forget the changing environment that children and young people are going on as they grow older, which may also contribute to the development above. Are the gardens-schools and schools of the first cycle more apt to support and help in better and more consistent than the other levels of higher education? If yes, why?

Dental caries at 6 years old - Very troubling is the discrepancy observed between the various regions of the country: "In the temporary dentition, Madeira, with a DMFT of 3.61, had the highest prevalence of disease, the difference being statistically significant compared to the national average. In the permanent dentition, the Azores, had a DMFT of 0.24, which was triple the national average. The regions of Central (0.02), Lisbon and Tagus Valley and the Algarve (0.03) had the lowest values: these changes are statistically significant. (...) For health regions the proportion of temporary teeth decayed (at six years old) was very high, ranging from 83% in the Alentejo and the Azores and 94% in Lisbon and Tagus Valley."

These contrasts show clearly the lack of opportunity of access to oral health in much of the country, constituting a grave injustice committed on children living in disadvantaged areas, in other words, health oral evidence to the discrimination made in favor of richer regions, always hurting the poorest regions (absurd logic if we are talking about national cohesion, as are children living in poorer regions that have fewer guarantees of oral health).

Link: The National Study of Prevalence of Oral Diseases 2008