Scientific literature encloses little knowledge on the prevalence of dental caries in municipalities in the Amazon region. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and treatment needs in the population of 12-year-old children in the municipality of Rio Preto da Eva, Amazonas, in the year 2007, according to gender and type of locality (rural or urban). This was a cross-sectional study of descriptive and exploratory nature with collection of primary data on the disease. The design was based on the 2003SB-Brazil epidemiological survey. The sample comprised 344 children in homes and schools in the rural and urban zones of the municipality. The general DMF-T index found was 3.73 (± 0.17), with predominance of the decay component. The percentages of children free of caries in the urban and rural zones were 12.5 and 13.6, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between genders or types of locality. In the rural zone there were around twice as many teeth needing treatment as in the urban zone. Restorative treatment was the major treatment needed in this population (86.2%). The prevalence of caries among the 12-year-old population in Rio Preto da Eva was moderate, and the mean DMF-T was above the target level established for the year 2000 by the FDI/WHO. The data show that there is a need to implement oral health care measures that are capable of intervening in relation to determinants of dental caries in the study population.
Dental caries; Epidemiology; Oral health
