Dental caries and fluorosis in children from high and low fluoride areas of Morocco.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and the severity of dental caries and dental fluorosis in primary and permanent teeth of 582 subjects, aged 7 to 16 years, from the fluorosis area of Khouribga and the non-fluorosis area of Beni Mellal, Morocco. At age-group 7-10, where 67.8 percent of primary teeth were present, about 35 percent of the children were affected in the high-fluoride area and the community fluorosis index was 0.86. The percentage and average number of erupted permanent teeth were higher in Beni Mellal than in Khouribga for 11-12 and 13-14-year-old age-groups. Significant differences in caries prevalence were observed between the high- and low-fluoride areas. In both regions, high and low prevalence of dental caries was observed in the primary and permanent teeth, respectively.