Prevalence Of Dental Caries, Socio-Economic Status And Treatment Needs Among 5 To 15 Year Old School Going Children Of Chidambaram
146-151
Correspondence
Dr. Joyson Moses MDS
Z block, 58 Anna Nagar
Chennai - 600040 , India
Ph: 94441788136
E. mail: drjoysonm@gmail.com
Introduction: Dental caries is a disease with multifactorial causes. The prevalence and incidence of dental caries in a population is influenced by a number of risk factor such as sex, age, socioeconomic status, dietary patterns and oral hygiene habits. Thus the present study was designed to assess the prevalence of dental caries in school children in Chidambaram between 5-15 age groups.
Materials and methods: The study population consisted of 2362 children, 1258 were boys and 1104 were girls. A total of 7 schools were selected. Trained Dental Surgeon was involved in the examining and the children were examined according to the Dentition status and Treatment Needs, WHO oral health assessment 1987.
Results: Off all the three groups, group II (9-11yrs old) had high percentage of caries. In total, dental caries were observed in 1484(63.83%) of study population. The mean (±SD) value of dmft/DMFT of all groups, the decayed teeth accounted for the greatest percentage. In all 80.4%of the student belong to low socio-economic group and showed dental caries .Restoration was the most required treatment in all three groups which was follow by pulp therapy.
Conclusion: The result of this study is a pointer to the fact that there still exist a large segment of the population who continue to remain ignorant about the detriment effects of poor oral health and the multiple benefits enjoyed from good oral health.