In Ecuador, national data on dental caries are scarce and the detection of incipient enamel lesions has been omitted. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of caries in school children aged 6 and 12 years of both sexes, belonging to urban and rural areas of three provinces of the country, using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS II). The sample consisted of 665 children from public schools, examined according to ICDASII. Caries prevalence and caries index were established using ICDAS II 2-6/C-G and ICDAS II 4-6/E-G criteria for comparison with WHO indicators. The Mann−Whitney U statistical test was used for comparison of two groups, the effect size was measured with the correlation coefficient. and the Kruskal−Wallis H test (p < 0.05) for multiple comparisons. Caries prevalence exceeded 87% for primary and permanent dentition. There were no significant differences according to province (p ≤ 0.05). The caries index at 6 years was 6.57 and at 12 years 9.21. The SIC was high at 12 years in rural areas. The prevalence of caries in the population studied was high despite the preventive measures established by health agencies.
Keywords: ICDAS; caries prevalence; child; diagnosis.