Dental Caries

PREVALENCE OF DENTAL CARIES AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN IN ABBOTTABAD

Natasha Syed

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study was part of an initiative sponsored by Colgate to investigate the prevalence of dental caries among school going children in Abbottabad. The target age group was 5-14 year olds specifically belonging to poor localities of the city. 540

Method: A pilot program followed by a detailed study was conducted for 540 students to observe the presence of dental caries and calculate the dft and DMFT scores.

Results: Among the 540 children examined, prevalence of caries was found to be 79% with slightly better scores among female students but considerably worse score compared to other major cities in Pakistan.

Conclusion: Clear

In the first phase, biographical information was collected from the students and also about the general hygiene in their household using a standardized checklist. This was followed by a queries relating to oral hygiene practices, dietary intake and preventive awareness like time, frequency and regularity in tooth brushing, use of any other oral hygiene aid like dental floss, mouth wash, tooth powder or fluoride tablets, and benefits of fluoride. Dietary questions included frequency of eating candy, chocolate and intake of tea or coffee.

In the final step, the children were examined. The examination was carried out using a wooden tongue depression technique in sunlight. Dental caries status was recorded using dft and DMFT score. Examination for dental caries was carried out and a tooth was diagnosed as “Sound” if there was no evidence of treated caries (filling) or untreated caries (decay), evidence of white chalky spots (incipient enamel lesion), staining, calculus or rough spots, a deep pit or fissure (stained or unstained) that catches the probe but has no detectably softened dentin floor, undermined enamel or softened walls, fluorosis or any questionable lesion which cannot reliably be diagnosed as

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