Dental caries is a major oral health problem in most of the industrialised countries, affecting 60–90% of children and the vast majority of adults. Objective: To assess dental caries prevalence and the caries experience at schoolchildren in the Republic of Moldova. The sample included two groups of 3115 children, aged 7-18, who were clinically examined in 2018: 1533 (49.21%) children from the countryside (L1) and 1582 (50.79%) from urban areas (L0). There were estimated the indices of dental caries prevalence (IP), caries experience and restoration index (RI). The clinical data for dental caries indices assessment were collected in accordance with the World Health Organization criteria. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of SUMPh "Nicolae Testemitanu" and conducted in accordance with ethical requirements, with the written consent of children's parents or their legal representatives. Epi Info was used for descriptive and inferential analysis, using both parametric and non-parametric tests (95% CI). Significant differences were observed between the extent of caries impairment in subjects from the countryside compared to children from urban areas, dental caries being present in 79.40±0.84% of children from the countryside compared to 56.49±1.02% of children from urban areas (t=17.32; p<0.001). The mean values of DMFT index in L1 and L0 group constituted 3.9±0.07 and 1.62±0.04 (t=13.14; p<0.001), respectively. The mean RI value of permanent teeth in children from rural areas was only 13.6±2.42%, and 84.64±14.22% in children from urban areas (p<0.001). 1. The high level of dental caries morbidity, low RI value and a large number of extracted teeth due to c complications in children from the countryside show an increased prevalence of need in dental treatment and insufficient dental care provided to this population. 2. In Republic of Moldova has to be designed adequate measures of providing dental care to children in order to prevent major dental and periodontal diseases.