Ohoud T. Zainelabdeen, Eman S.Elmasri, Samah M.Awad And Ahmad M.M.Badr,

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To Determine The Prevalence Of Dental Caries In Pre-term Children Aged 2-5 Years Seeking Treatment Or Follow Up At Cairo University Children?s Hospital ?Abo El-rish? At El-Monira, Cairo, Egypt. Design: It Is A Cross Sectional Study. Subjects And Methods: A Total Sample Size Of 300 Children Was Taken (140 Boys And 160 Girls), Assessment Of Oral Hygiene And Dietary Habits Was Aided By A Specially Designed Questionnaire, It Contained Six Open Ended And Eight Closed Ended Questions. Part One Included The Patients? Personal Data, Second Part Was About The History Of The Child?s Feeding, And Third Part Included Some Questions About The Child?s Oral Hygiene. Clinical Examination Of Children Was Performed By The Researcher Using: A Dental Mouth Mirror, Dental Probe And A Piece Of Cotton Or Gauze. All The Surfaces Of The Teeth Were Examined For The Presence Of Dental Caries And Recorded Using The (dmft Score Of Primary Teeth.

Results: The Results Of This Study Showed That The Prevalence Of Dental Caries Was 96.6% Among The Studied Sample With Dmft Sores Ranging From 0.00-16.0 With Mean Dmft Of 4.0. Conclusion: Presence Of A Direct Positive Correlation Between The Pre-term Birth And Dental Caries In Primary Dentition. The Effect Of The Other Cariogenic Factors And Oral Hygiene Measures On The Pre-term Children Teeth Was A Direct Relation In Causing Dental Caries In Pre-term Children.