Oral health status of a population of saharawi children in seville, Spain

Introduction and Objective: During the summer season a large number of children from the Western Sahara region come to Spain. They reside in certain Spanish cities and are taken care of by foster parents during these months. These children become part of the Spanish population during the season and require medical and dental treatment. We aimed to study the oral health status of sahrawi children by conducting a descriptive cross-sectional study in the province of Seville. Methods: For the development of this research, we adopted a research design which used the principles found in WHO publication "Oral Health Surveys”, the 1997 edition. We claculated DMFT, resaturation index (IR) and fluorosis index. Results: Of the 355 children living in the province of Seville, 154 patients underwent dental and oral examination. It was observed that the prevalence of caries on primary teeth of the participants was 78% and 62% on permanent teeth. The DMFT was 2.54 and IR was 0.32. Fluorosis index was found to be high, as expected. Conclusion: Children of west Sahara states have an oral health condition that can be covered by the Spanish public health system, given the fact that these children are entitled to be served by the Dental Program in Andalusia.