Background: Caries is a chronic disease that affects billions of adult people and children worldwide. However, caries differs largely between individuals and countries that range from having comparably low to high prevalences of the disease. The distribution of manifest and initial caries lesions at different tooth surfaces during adolescence in low caries populations like Sweden should be determined.
Aim: The aim of this study was therefore to characterize the distribution of enamel and manifest caries lesions at ages of 12 and 17 years in Swedish adolescents.
Material and method: The distribution of caries lesions were analysed using an available and prospective sample of 452 adolescents collected between 12 and 17 years of age for caries DeFS lesions at different tooth surfaces.
Results: The molars had the highest DFS and DeFS at baseline and at follow up. Premolars and front teeth had markedly less caries lesions in both DFS and DeFS. The surface with the highest DFS was the occlusal surface followed by approximal, buccal and palatinal surfaces at both 12 and 17 years. In DeFS the order was similar at 12 years however at 17 years approximal caries had the highest number of caries lesions followed by occlusal, buccal and palatinal surfaces. There was a 82% increase in total count of caries lesion from 12 years to 17 years and a 423% increase in enamel caries lesions from 12 years to 17 years.
Conclusion: The findings revealed that the occlusal surface and the molars had the highest risk for caries progression and that enamel caries progressed more than manifest from baseline to follow up.