Dental Caries and Treatment Needs among 14 and 15 years Old Intermediate School Male Students in Al-Khalis City/Iraq

Background Dental caries is a widely spread disease throughout the world that can be controlled but not eliminated, it occurs both in developing and developed countries, it is considered as one of the causative factors of tooth loss if it is untreated. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of dental caries, as well as, to measure the dental treatment need of dental caries among 14 and 15 years old intermediate school male students in Al-Khalis city/Iraq. Materials and Methods The sample consisted of 735 intermediate school male students aged 14 and 15 years old (338 were aged 14 years old and 397 were aged 15 years old) from urban area in Al-Khalis city. In this study diagnosis and recording of dental caries and dental treatment needs were done according to criteria of WHO [1]. Results In this study the prevalence of dental caries of the total sample was (87.62 %). The DMFT and DMFS mean values were higher among 15 years old students than among 14 years old students with statistically no significant difference (pgreater than0.05). highest percentage of students were in need for one surface filling (82.31 %) followed by two surface filling (54.42 %). Conclusions This study revealed a high prevalence of dental caries among 14 and 15 years old intermediate schools male students in Al-Khalis city, thus those students were on need for public health programs and dental caries treatment programs to prevent further progression of decay.