Background/Objective:
The Xukuru do Ororubá people, one of the largest indigenous populations in Northeastern Brazil and the largest in the State of Pernambuco, have their Indigenous Land of 27,550 hectares organized into 3 socio-environmental regions (Serra, Ribeira and Agreste) and 24 villages located in the municipality of Pesqueira, sheltering 7,857 people. The aim was to characterize the indigenous people aged 18 to 23 years of age of the Xukuru do Ororubá ethnic group regarding the use of dental services, self-perception of oral health, oral hygiene practices and caries experience, as well as socioeconomic and demographic aspects.

Methods:
This is a population-based cross-sectional study, nested in a cohort initiated in 2010, developed in the limits of the Xukuru do Ororubá Indigenous Land in 2018. Based on the performance of oral examinations and application of questionnaires, the study involved the participation of 131 indigenous people in the age group of 18 to 23 years old. Data were collected using Epi-Info software, and the statistical program SPSS 20.0 was used to develop descriptive statistics. To compare the pattern of caries experience identified among indigenous individuals with results from the National Oral Health Survey (SB Brazil 2010), graphs were constructed in the R software.

Results:
The caries experience verified by the DMFT Index obtained a mean equivalent to 7.4 (SD=5.1), with the mean of the components of the Index corresponding to 22.8 for healthy teeth, 2.4 for decayed teeth, 0.2 for filled and decayed teeth, 3.5 for filled teeth, and 1.4 for missing teeth.

Conclusion:
The oral health status of indigenous people is characterized by significant inequality when compared to the results of epidemiological surveys conducted in the country involving other population groups.