Oral health status of teenage schoolchildren in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

In Papua New Guinea the main dental problem has been periodontal disease and related conditions. Dental caries appears to be low in many community groups. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of dental caries and the periodontal health status of teenage schoolchildren in Port Moresby. 200 children of mean age 15.4 years were examined from two urban community high schools in Port Moresby. 44% of the children examined were caries-free and the average decayed, missing or filled teeth (DMFT) score was 1.43, while only 2.5% of the children had totally healthy periodontal tissues. 18% of them showed pathological periodontal pockets of 4 or 5mm in depth, the remaining children having either gingival bleeding, calculus or both. The results indicated that this group of children showed a low prevalence of dental caries and a high prevalence of periodontal problems. No cases with deep periodontal pockets of 6mm or more were found.