DOI: 10.36347/sjds.2020.v07i10.004

Pages: 169-172

Objectives: The objectives of this work were to determine the prevalence of tooth decay in 12 years pupils at the Bougoula Hameau secondary School in Mali and to evaluate their oral hygiene and eating habits. Method and materials: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study based on observation of dental status from October 8th to December 14th, 2018. The data were collected using a survey form and processed by using epi-info software version 3.5 .3. Results: Our results showed a prevalence of 98.06% and a CAO index of 4.93. Among the 103 pupils, 52.4% were male and 49.6% were female. 86.4% were using teeth brush; 87.6% brushed once a day; 96.1% nibbled between three daily meals; at least one CAO tooth was present in 98.1% of cases. Conclusion: Our results showed that oral health status in pupils is not satisfactory and is of great concern. It emerges from this study that it is necessary to set up an oral health prevention program in schools.