Abstract
The prevalence of dental caries is increasing across different nations around the globe. A review of the literature shows that dental caries is adversely affecting the oral health of children, adolescents, adults and elderly populations in Saudi Arabia. The objective of this review is to report the prevalence, severity, and progression of dental caries in different age groups of Saudi communities. Digital databases such as PubMed, Medline, Google scholar, and the Saudi Dental and Medical Journals were searched to retrieve the published articles and reports on dental caries in Saudi Arabia. Search strategy included key words such as "dental caries,"dental decay, decayed missing filled teeth (dmft/DMFT), and oral health. Cross-sectional, retrospective and cohort studies (from 1982 to 2012) reporting the prevalence, incidence and severity of caries among children, adults and older individuals were included in the review. In children with primary dentition ages 3-7 years, the highest caries prevalence was almost 95% and maximum estimate of dmft was 7.34 during the last decade. Approximately, 91% was the highest caries prevalence and greatest DMFT value was 7.35 among the children/adolescents ages 12-19 years. The adults with a mean age between 30 and 45 years had maximum caries prevalence of 98% and DMFT of 14.53 while older individuals had greatest DMFT score of 24.3. Children, adults, and elderly populations demonstrate a higher prevalence and greater severity of caries, and secular trends also show a striking increase in dmft/DMFT and caries prevalence rates over the past few decades in Saudi Arabia.