Oral health needs, dental caries and access to oral health services among children and adolescents

Abstract

The oral health needs of a community can vary between region, sub-region and countries due to different sociocultural conditions and practices, awareness and acceptance of oral health practices, oral health seeking behaviors and attitudes towards oral health. There are many social, economic, political and cultural factors that affect the ability of developing countries and resource poor to provide adequate oral health care for the people. Oral diseases like dental caries are a significant public health problem in resource rich and resource poor countries. Children with dental caries in their primary teeth are more likely to have dental caries in their permanent teeth when compared to those who have never had dental caries in primary dentition if dental caries preventive measures are not instituted. The presence of dental caries in children is considered an important evidence for evaluating the oral health status of children.

Access to oral health care service among children for preventive, restorative, rehabilitative and curative purpose is important for optimal oral health and wellbeing of a child. Untreated carious teeth are a common finding in African children. Restorative index   and Met Need Index among children and adolescent are very low, and can reflects limited access to oral care in terms of cost, accessibility, availability, acceptability and awareness. After searching articles from electronic databases, PubMed ,Scopus, Medline and Google Scholar. The aim of this article is to review the burden of dental caries, the dentist to patient ratio, restorative index and met need index of children and adolescents.