Dental fluorosis of permanent teeth among 12-year-old people of Guangdong Province: a sample investigation (2015-2016)

To investigate the dental fluorosis status of permanent teeth of a 12-year-old population of Guangdong Province to provide informational support for oral health care in Guangdong.

An equal-sized cross-sectional random-sample assessment was carried out among 1920 urban and rural residents of Guangdong Province, half male and half female, aged 12 years. We examined the dental fluorosis status of complete permanent teeth crown based on a health survey and the criteria of clinical dental fluorosis from the fourth national oral health survey. The data were analyzed by SAS9.2 to investigate the prevalence and community fluorosis index as well as gender and urban and rural differences, and compared with the prevalence of fluorosis in Guangdong Province in 2005 and 1995.

In the 12-year-old population, the prevalence of dental fluorosis was 5.05%, and the community fluorosis index was 0.108. There was no significant difference between genders (P > 0.05), but there was a significant difference between subjects from urban and rural areas (P < 0.05). There were significant differences among prevalence of dental fluorosis and community fluorosis index in 1995, 2005 and 2015-2016 (P < 0.05).

The prevalence of dental fluorosis and the community fluorosis index of 12-year-old people of Guangdong Province are relatively low, but there is an upward trend.