THE PATTERN OF DENTAL CARIES IN CHILDREN IN PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA LA DISPOSITION DE CARIES DENTAIRES CHEZ LES ENFANTS À PORT HARCOURT, NIGÉRIA *EIGBOBO JO, ETIM SS Abstract Background: Dental caries is a preventable oral disease in children and its preven on can only be effec ve when the pa ern is known. There is paucity of this informa on in South - South Nigeria. Aim and objec ve: To describe the pa ern of dental caries in Nigerian children in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Design of the study: A Retrospec ve study Se ng: Paediatric Dental clinic, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: The dental records of 334 pa ents that a ended the dental clinic in 2013 were reviewed for the following informa on: socio demography, oral hygiene prac ces, dietary habits and presence and pa ern of dental caries. Results: One hundred and forty two (42.5%) children had dental caries during the study period. They consisted of 65 (45.8%) males and 77 (54.2%) females with a mean age of 9.14 (+ 3.94) years and a range of 1to16years. Majority (78.5%) cleaned their teeth once a day and 83.3% of the children below seven years of age cleaned their teeth by themselves. All the children ingested refined carbohydrates in varying frequencies. The 5 to 9 year age cohort was 43% of those who had dental caries. Most of the carious lesions were located on the occlusal surfaces (61.2%) while the least sites (1.2%) were the lingual surfaces in both den ons. The carious lesions were more in the posterior teeth of the lower jaw. There were no anterior teeth affected in the permanent den on. There was an associa on between the age and the severity of caries (p