The Importance Of Dental Caries In Canada

Despite the advances in treatment and prevention modalities, the dental caries is still a major public health problem in developed countries. Dental caries was 5 times more prevalent than asthma and 7 times more prevalent than hay fever, among 5-17 years’ old US children (5). In Canada according to 2010-Canadian Health Measure Survey (CHMS) 56.8% of the 6-11 year-old children are affected by dental caries and 23% of them have dental caries on permanent teeth. The prevalence of dental caries in permanent teeth among children has declined from 74% in 1970-72 to 23% in 2007-2009. The mean DMFT declined from the range of 3-6 to the population average of 0.49 in this age group. However, among those who have permanent teeth caries, the average DMFT