[Survey on dental caries prevalence among 3-year-old children in Jing'an District of Shanghai].

PURPOSE: To analyze the dental caries prevalence and severity in 3-year-old children from Jing'an district of Shanghai, and provide epidemiologic evidence for monitoring dental decay for establishing policies of preventive and treatment. METHODS: The surveillance was conducted using random cluster sampling method, 959 3-year-old children from Jing'an district was investigated in regard to dental caries. SPSS 15.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTES: The caries prevalence rate of deciduous tooth in 3-year-old children was 28.05.%. The incidence in males was significantly higher than that in females (P<0.05). The index of decayed, missing or filled-teeth（dmft）was 0.87, there was no significant difference between different genders.The caries filling ratio was 5.44%, with no significant difference was noted between different genders. Dental caries was mostly seen in the primary mandibular second molars，and least seen in the primary mandibular lateral incisor. CONCLUSIONS: Caries prevalence is high in 3-years-old children, and the majority is left untreated. Oral health care should be strengthened in this population.