Objective

To determine in an area with systemic fluoridation, the prevalence of development of enamel defects in children’s primary teeth between 4-6 years old from a public school in Bogota, Colombia.

Method

A simple random sample was conducted in 153 students, obtaining 62 healthy children, detailed dental clinical assesment were performed in them. The examiner was calibrated by an expert in the modified index of Dental Enamel Defects from the International Dental Federation obtaining a kappa inter-examiner and intra-examiner measures of 0.9 and 0.8, respectively. An informed consent and approval of the study by the Ethical Committee of the School of Dentistry at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia were obtained.

Results

The prevalence of dental enamel defects was 74.2 % (62.1 - 83.4) 95 % CI, distributed in: demarcated opacities 86.9 % (74.3-93.3) 95 % CI, diffuse opacities 76.1 % (62.4-85.7) 95 % CI and hypoplasia 2.2 % (0.4-11.1) 95 % CI. The most frequent combination of defects in an individual was demarcated and diffuse opacities. The most affected maxilla was the superior 54.6 % and the most compromised teeth were the second molar 56 %. The average teeth affected with dental enamel defects per individual was 4.7 ± SD 2.6.

Conclusions

The high prevalence of dental enamel defects found, despite low severity, suggests more attention of the health authorities leading preventive programs. More studies should be done with standardized methodologies in order to estimate the overall prevalence of the defects.