665. Ten Sick Teeth for Portuguese: Portrait of a Country in which Almost Everyone Has Had a Caries

The big problem is that we have a very high value of teeth lost due to caries, surely because people look for the dentist very late, says the coordinator of the Oral Health Program of the Directorate-General for Health. Only 3% of adults in Portugal Dental caries problems, with the situation worsening in the elderly, who still have on average 11 teeth totally lost, according to an official study.
The third National Study of Prevalence of Oral Diseases was conducted in five age groups representative of the Portuguese regional and national population, according to criteria recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). For the first time, age groups of the adult population were included in the National Prevalence Study of Oral Diseases, with the children, previously studied, showing "significant improvements" in their dental health.

The group of 35-44 years is the great surprise of the national study. Virtually all people have had contacts with caries. Only 3% of adults in Portugal never had caries problems. From a certain age, we can expect that all Portuguese have or have had problems related to dental health, said Rui Calado, coordinator of the Oral Health Program of the Directorate General of Health. The study identified an average of 10.3 teeth with problems per person, but concluded that almost five of those teeth are already treated, and four are missing teeth.

The big problem is to have a very high value of teeth lost due to caries, surely because people look for the dentist very late. But access to dental medicine exists and was verified, because of the 10.3 with problems, only 1.5 are to be treated, explained Rui Calado. In fact, the levels of membership, access, are news for us. We were expecting worse access levels. What happens is that people have access but they look for the dentists very late, he added.In the group of the elderly, between 65 and 74 years, there are an average of 15 diseased teeth per person, 11.5 of which are already totally lost teeth, in which the only alternative is rehabilitation through prostheses. The only solution is rehabilitation. The form has to be thought and studied because any account, however slight, indicates that we are talking about astronomical values, if we want to make a public intervention, said the coordinator of the Oral Health Promotion Program.

With regard to children, the DGS says that health gains have been made clear by the development of the Program (which provides dental checks, among other interventions), with more than half of children aged six and 12 being totally free Of cavities and with all healthy teeth. The average number of teeth with problems is 1.6 in six - year - old children and 1.2 in children of 12, which are halved compared to what was found in the 2000 study.We have an excellent dental health situation in children up to 12 years of age, said Rui Calado, considering that the application of sealants promoted by the Oral Health Program has been working, as well as treatments performed through dental checks. The National Oral Health Program, which has been developed in partnership with the Ordem dos Médicos Dentistas, promotes the application of fissure sealants in healthy permanent molars in children and allows other treatments through dental checks provided at 7, 10, 13 and 15 years.

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