National and subnational trend of dental caries of permanent teeth in Iran 1990-2017

• Published in: International dental journal 2024-02, Vol.74 (1), p.129-137
• Main Authors: Shoaee, Shervan, Masinaei, Masoud, Moghaddam, Sahar Saeedi, Sofi-Mahmudi, Ahmad, Hessari, Hossein, Shamsoddin, Erfan, Heydari, Mohammad-Hossein, Larijani, Bagher, Fakhrzadeh, Hossein, Farzadfar, Farshad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bayes Theorem; Child, Preschool; Dental Caries; Dental Caries - epidemiology; Dentition, Permanent; DMF Index; DMFT; Female; Humans; Iran; Iran - epidemiology; Male; Oral Health; Periodontal Diseases; Prevalence; Scientific Research Report; Spatio-Temporal Analysis; Spatiotemporal analysis; Tooth Loss
• ISSN: 0020-6539; 1875-595X; 1875-595X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.identj.2023.07.012

: There is currently no integrated data on the trend of dental caries among distinct age groups in Iran. We aimed to assess the national and subnational trend of dental caries of permanent teeth in Iran from 1990 to 2017. : A literature search about dental caries and the decay-missing-filled teeth index (DMFT) was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and three national databases (in Persian). All eligible national oral health surveys in these 28 years were included. We categorised and aggregated the DMFT values and their components based on age (5-year-based groups from 5-9 to 60+ years), sex, year, and province. The data for missing spots were estimated using the Spatio-temporal Bayesian hierarchical model. We used the bootstrap method in multilevel models to predict the uncertainty interval (UI) of the modelled results. Results: Nationally, the all-ages mean DMFT increased by nearly 58.0% (6.8 (95% UI 4.1-10.5) in 1990 to 10.8 (7.5-14.5) in 2017). DT and MT rose by 84.5% and 31.6% during this period, respectively. FT showed almost a 2.6-fold increase in the same period from 0.6 (0.01-1.6) in 1990 to 1.7 (0.6-2.8) in 2017. The proportion of DT and FT continuously increased in both sexes. In 2017, the highest DT, MT, and FT were estimated in 25-29 (4.9 [2.5-7.2]), 60+ (21.5 [17.5-25.4]), and 35-39 (2.6 [1.3-4.0]) years old. : Caries of permanent dentition levies a growing burden on the Iranian population. Considering its continuous increase during the 1990-2017 period, Iranian policy-makers need to heed dental caries more actively and act accordingly to halt this perpetuating issue. Implementing nationwide interventions (e.g., sugar consumption management) is encouraged to achieve sustainable results in this regard.