Introduction:

There are various indicators of and controversies about the prevalence of dental caries in children with and without disabilities.

Objective:

Determine the prevalence of cavitated and uncavitated carious lesions based on the CPO-D/ceo-d index and the white spot lesion or active uncavitated lesion registry in children with and without disabilities aged 0-12 years attending the Dental Care Center at San Martín de Porres University in the period 2010-2017.

Methods:

A cross-sectional observational retrospective study was conducted of a population composed of the children attending the pediatric dental care service in the period 2010-2017. Seventy-one patients were identified: 31 without disabilities and 40 with disabilities. A review was done of the dental chart in the medical record, the CPO-D/ceo-d index and active uncavitated lesions to determine the presence of dental caries.

Results:

Average total affected deciduous teeth (ceo-d + active uncavitated lesions) was 15.83 in children without disabilities and 11.64 in children with disabilities; in mixed dentition deciduous teeth total ceo-d was 7.86 in children without disabilities and 8.20 in children with disabilities; in mixed dentition permanent teeth CPO-D was 3.29 in children without disabilities and 2.27 in children with disabilities. A statistically significant difference in the total affected teeth was only found in deciduous dentition of children with and without disabilities (p = 0.013).

Conclusions:

Children with disabilities only showed a greater prevalence of cavitated and uncavitated carious lesions in mixed dentition deciduous teeth, in contrast with children without disabilities (not a statistically significant difference). In the remaining dentitions (mixed deciduous and permanent) prevalence of carious lesions was lower in patients with disabilities, with statistically significant differences.

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