Objectives: to assess the prevalence of dental caries and describe some clinical characteristics of dental caries in the first year students at Haiphong Pharmaceutical Medical University. Research method: cross-sectional description. Results: the percentages of dental caries in the first year students was high (64,1 percent), and the dental caries rate in females was higher than that in males. The DMFT index was low (2,09) and that in females was higher than that in males. The enamel caries consisted of the highest rate at 53,3 percent. The surface caries was the highest (62,2 percent) and the caries rate in the mandibular teeth was higher than that in the maxillary teeth.