OBJECTIVES: After 34 years, the school dental praxis in Odorheiu Secuiesc was restarted in 2022. The research aims to analyze the dental status of students in grades 9-12 provided by the new school dental praxis.

METHODS: The retrospective research was conducted in Odorheiu Secuiesc (Transylvania, Romania) among the students screened in the school dental practice. Based on the documentation, we analyzed the gender, age, DMFT index and the number of braces wearers. In addition to descriptive statistical analysis chi-square test, ANOVA and independent sample T-test were conducted, using the SPSS 27.0 software (p<0.05).

RESULTS: 5,210 students were screened in the practice, 9,349 decayed teeth were found, and 280 treatments were performed in the 2022-2023 school year. A detailed analysis was performed for 898 students (51.4% girls, 48.6% boys). The mean DMFT was 5.4 (SD: 3.71; median 5, minimum 0, maximum 20). Only 69 of the students had a DMFT value of zero, and 9 had a DMFT value of 16 or higher. The most common values were DMFT 4, 5, and 6. 17.7% of students had a DMFT index of 1-2, 30.1% 3-5, 33.9% 6-10, 10, and 7% above 11. A significantly (p=0.033) higher number of DMFT values than 11 occurred among boys (13%) than among girls (10.9%). (98 students) wear braces, 89.1% (800 students) do not. Based on the screening test, braces would be recommended for 80 (8.9%) students. The DMFT of students wearing braces (4.72; SD: 3.26) was less than the DMFT mean of students not wearing braces (5.48; SD: 3.76), but the difference was not significant (p=0.057).

CONCLUSIONS: The poor oral health status of the examined students due to the lack of primary prevention and screening programs. We are confident that the operation of the practice will improve the children's dental condition even in the short term.