High Burden of Dental Caries in First-Grade Children in Latvia: A Cross-Sectional Study

This preprint reports a cross-sectional study on dental caries prevalence and severity in primary teeth among 822 first-grade children (mean age 7.13 years) in Riga and Pieriga, Latvia. Calibrated dentists examined children in school settings using merged ICDAS criteria. An opt-out parental consent procedure minimised selection bias.
Caries prevalence reached 90.5% at the enamel threshold (d1), 78.5% at the dentine threshold (d3), and 71.4% at the cavitated dentine level (d5). Mean d1mft was 5.91 (SD 3.61) and mean d5mft was 3.42 (SD 3.28). About 25% of children presented with prematurely extracted teeth or signs of pulpal inflammation.
The small gradient between d1 and d5 prevalence indicates that most lesions progress untreated, consistent with a late-stage detection model. These baseline data support reorientation of Latvia's dental care system toward prevention-oriented models with appropriate incentives and outcome measures.