Caries experience in a selected patient population in Mexico City.

Little information on the epidemiology of caries in Mexico is available. Most studies have evaluated only schoolchildren in urban areas, usually in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) (1-5). A computerized system was iniplcnieiilcd in 1990 al the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Denlal School (UNAMDS) to collect clinical and deniographic dala from lirsl-time patients (System for Controlling, Recording and Tracking Patients (SlCOREP)). UNAMDs" provides the grcalesl variety of low-cost oral health services lo ihc populalion in the MCMA through ils facilities in the main campus and the I 1 Community Oral Health Care Clinics located in the city outskirts. Aside from private ptaclitioners, UNAMDS offers the largest variety of oral health services to the public. As a general rule, private practice is the most common form of dental practice in Mexico and is frequently beyond the economic reach of the vast majority o^ the population (6, 7). Limited facilities for public dental iTcalmenl do exist bul are usually limited to extraclioiis and amalgam lillings. Since caries epidemiologic studies have often not included huge segments of the Mexican population, and in particular the adult populalion, the present study employed SICOREP dala lo increase this scarce body of knowledge by evaluating the caries experience and caries-treatment experience of a large group of patienls requesling dental care at UNAMDS.