Dental Caries and Treatment Needs among Secondary School Female Students Aged 16-17 Years Old in Kirkuk City/Iraq

Background Dental caries is a widely spread oral infectious disease in adolescents occurs in both developed and developing countries, it cannot be eliminated but can be controlled by developing appropriate preventive programs. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and experience of dental caries and treatment needs for it among secondary school female students aged 16 and 17 years old in urban areas of Kirkuk city. Materials and methods The representative sample consisted of (750) secondary school female students distributed into (387) for age 16 and (363) for age 17, they were selected randomly from different secondary schools in the in urban areas of Kirkuk city. Diagnosis and recording of dental caries and treatment needs were done according to the criteria of WHO (1987). Results the prevalence of dental caries for the total sample was (82.80). The mean values of DMFT and DMFS were (4.150.11) and (6.47 0.22) respectively. Regarding age, The mean values of DMFT and DMFS among 17 years old females were higher than females aged 16 years old with statistically significant difference for FS fraction only (Pless than0.05). The highest percentage of females were in need of one surface filling (76.80 %), followed by two or more surface filling (34.53 %). Conclusions In present study, a relatively high prevalence of dental caries was revealed among 16 and 17 years old secondary school female students in Kirkuk city, thus there is a need for appropriate public health programs among those female students.