The Pakistan Dental Association (PDA) has identified bacterial infections leading to tooth decay as the single most common chronic childhood disease in the country.
Tooth decay in Pakistani children was five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever.
Almost 50 percent of 12- and 15-year-old children have at least two teeth affected, said the PDA researchers associated with a national-level survey in the country.
On a positive side, more than 50 percent of the children between the ages of 12 to 15 years were found to be caries free while 97 percent of all carious lesions in these age groups were left untreated.
For the 35 to 44 year old group, 50 percent of lesions were untreated while in more than 90 percent of cases, extraction was offered as the sole treatment.
Thirty-five percent of Pakistanis aged between 35 to 44 years were found to be in need for replacement of missing teeth; however, only 5 percent could be identified wearing them.
Only one percent in the 35 to 44 years age group were identified as “edentulous” that is with “no teeth” compared to 20 percent of those aged 65 years or above with no teeth.
Researchers found caries to be very strongly age related with average number of affected teeth going up to almost 18 teeth per individual over the age of 65.