Comparative evaluation of the prevalence of caries in adult individuals

Aim: Dental caries is a public health problem that can be seen at any age in the society and negatively affects the general health status. This problem, which started to affect people in prehistoric times, continues to affect the society with the nutritional changes brought by the modern age. In our study, a total of 400 adult individuals aged 16 and over who applied to Dicle University Faculty of Dentistry for any reason in 2020 and had panoramic films from 38275 patients; It was aimed to evaluate the caries prevalence by comparison. Material and Method: The DMF-T indexes, which were formed by the number of secondary caries, tooth loss and restorations detected in panoramic films determined by random sampling method, were classified according to gender, age group, current restoration type, jaw and tooth group it belonged to. The study was initiated with the approval of the Ethics Committee dated 27.01.2021 (Meeting Number: 1 / Decision No: 1). Panoramic films were examined by two different observers on the computer screen and wisdom teeth were excluded from the evaluation. The results obtained in the study, in which the number of restored teeth was not added to the number of decayed teeth, were analyzed with the Pearson chi-square test. Results: The incidence of secondary caries; It was determined that it was not affected by the change in gender, age group and existing restoration type, and there was no statistically significant difference between these variables. The amount of tooth loss; While it was not affected by gender difference, it showed statistically significant differences in terms of age group and jaw. When the number of restored teeth is examined; While there was no statistically significant difference between the genders, a significant difference was found between age groups and dental groups. Conclusion: Early diagnosis of dental caries is essential for successful treatment. As a result of our study; It was observed that the amount of tooth loss increased with the age of the patients, but the amount of restored teeth decreased. Based on this result, we believe that preventive measures that will include the general population will help the oral and dental health of the community to reach better levels. Key Words: Prevalence of dental caries, secondary caries, tooth loss, type of restoration.