Dental decay in pre-school Chinese children aged 3-6 years in Petaling Jaya

The problem of dental decay was studied in a sample of 495 Chinese preschool children in Petaling Jaya. The children; 253 males and 242 females ranged in age from 3-6 years. 18.6% of the children was observed to suffer from rampant caries. Only 18.8% were caries free. The dft values ranged from 2.9 +/- 3.12 at 3 years to 5.85 +/- 3.41 at 6 years. The overall mean dft for this group was 4.99 +/- 3.81. Dental treatment was very inadequate. The decayed filled tooth ratio was 6.5:1.