Caries prevalence and treatment need amongst children of Dharavi, Bombay, India

Effectiveness of an oral health curriculum in reducing dental caries increment and improving oral hygiene behaviour among schoolchildren of Ernakulam district in Kerala, India: study protocol for a cluster randomised trial

INTRODUCTION

Children's learning abilities suffer when their oral health is compromised. Inadequate oral health can harm children's quality of life, academic performance, and future success and achievements. Oral health problems may result in appetite loss, depression, increased inattentiveness, and distractibility from play and schoolwork, all of which can lower self-esteem and contribute to academic failure. An oral health curriculum, in addition to the standard school curriculum, may instil preventive oral hygiene behaviour in school students, enabling them to retain good oral health for the rest of their lives. Because most children attend school, the school setting is the most effective for promoting behavioural change in children. A 'health-promoting school' actively promotes health by enhancing its ability to serve as a healthy place to live, learn and work, bringing health and education together. Making every school a health-promoting school is one of the joint objectives of the WHO and UNICEF. The primary objective of this proposed study is to assess the effectiveness of an oral health curriculum intervention in reducing dental caries incidence and improving oral hygiene behaviour among high school children in grades 8-10 of the Ernakulam district in Kerala, India. If found to be effective in changing children's behaviour in a positive way, an oral health curriculum may eventually be incorporated into the school health curriculum in the future. Classroom interventions can serve as a cost-effective tool to increase children's oral health awareness.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This protocol presents a cluster randomised trial design. It is a parallel-group comparative trial with two arms having a 1:1 distribution-groups A and B with oral health curriculum intervention from a dental professional and a schoolteacher, respectively. High schools (grades 8-10) will be selected as clusters for the trial. The minimum cluster size is 20 students per school. The total sample size is 2000 high school children. Data will be collected at three time points, including baseline, after 1 year (mid-term) and 2 years (final), respectively. The outcome measures are Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth Index; Oral Hygiene Index-Simplified; and knowledge, attitude and behaviour. Data collection will be done by clinical oral examination and questionnaire involving oral health-related knowledge, attitude and behaviour items.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre (dated 19 July 2022, no: IEC-AIMS-2022-ASD-179).

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI/2022/09/045410).

Comparative effectiveness of herbal and conventional toothpaste on prevention of dental caries: systematic review and meta-analysis

Dental caries is a global oral health problem caused due to localized demineralization of the enamel. Chemical plaque control is used as an adjuvant to mechanical plaque control in removing biofilm, thereby preventing dental caries. In recent times, there has been a renewed interest in nature-based products. This systematic review aimed to analyse the existing literature to compare the effectiveness of herbal and conventional dentifrices on prevention of dental caries. A search was done in the databases of PubMed and Google Scholar in July 2020 for the related topic. A hand search was done from the references of primary studies and other clinical trial registry sites. Randomized control trials, comparative clinical trials, and in vitro studies in which the effectiveness of herbal and conventional dentifrices on prevention of dental caries were included after review by the reviewers. The systematic search revealed a total of thirty-two publications from which ten publications were included. Five studies were clinical studies and five were in vitro studies. All the studies used microbiological analysis for the determination of cariogenic microorganisms in plaque and saliva, whereas one study used pH of plaque and saliva. Among the included studies, all studies had a high risk of bias with level 2 evidence. With the evidence available, it can be concluded that herbal dentifrices and fluoride dentifrices have similar antimicrobial activity against cariogenic microorganisms.

Oral Health Assessment of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Special Schools

Background

Sensory over-responsivity is an important factor influencing the ability of children with an autism spectrum disorder to receive proper oral care. Dental care remains the most prevalent, unmet health care need for children with special health care needs.

Aim and objective

To assess the oral health of children with autism in special schools.

Materials and methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted to record the oral health problems of 142 autistic children attending special schools across the suburbs of Mumbai city in India. Clinical examination was carried out for the presence of dental plaque, gingivitis, caries, restorations, traumatic injuries, and self-injurious habits. The participants were divided into three groups based on their age.

Results

Children with primary and mixed dentition had a higher incidence of dental caries when compared with the permanent dentition group. Good oral hygiene was observed in the study population with a mean OHI-S score of 0.88 ± 0.79. Traumatic dental injuries, bruxism, drooling of saliva from the corner of the mouth, and self-injurious habits were also recorded.

Conclusion

Due to the nature of their neurological deficit and difficulty in providing dental treatment, it is recommended that preventive dental care be enforced on these children.

How to cite this article

Santosh A, Kakade A, Mali S, et al. Oral Health Assessment of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Special Schools. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2021;14(4):548–553.

Assessment of Prevalence of Dental Caries among School-going Children: A Cross-sectional Study

Background:

The background of the study was to assess the prevalence of dental caries among school-going children.

Materials and Methods:

Six thousand eight hundred and ninety school-going children was enrolled. General clinical examination was carried out. Mouth mirror, probe, and explorer were used for carrying out the clinical examination. Over a time span of 6 months, the entire study was completed. All the examiners who performed clinical examination underwent a single-day training program for detecting dental caries. All the participants were seated on straight wooden chairs and were examined clinically. The prevalence of caries was recorded.

Results:

The prevalence was 26.02%. Among these children with dental caries, 50.25% of the children belonged to the age group of 13–15 years, while the remaining 49.75% of the children belonged to the age group of 9–12 years. Prevalence of dental caries was significantly higher in females (71.11%) in comparison to males. Furthermore, dental caries was significantly more prevalent among participants with toothbrushing frequency of less than once a day (51.20%).

Conclusion:

There is an imperative need for intimating health check-up camps among school-going children.

Prevalence and Comparison of Dental Caries experience among 5 to 12 year old school children of Chandigarh using dft/ DMFT and SiC Index: A Cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION

Dental caries is the most common chronic disease of childhood that interferes with normal nutrition intake, speech, and daily routine activities. Dental caries affects people of all ages with the highest priority risk group being school-going children. Hence, this cross-sectional study helps to determine the prevalence and to compare the dental caries experience among 5- to 12-year-old school-going children of Chandigarh using dft/DMFT and SiC index.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The present study was conducted among 3354 school children in the age group of 5 to 12 years. The subjects were selected from four randomly selected schools in Chandigarh. Independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used to compare the mean difference at 5% significance level (P < 0.05).

RESULTS

The prevalence of dental caries was found to be 46.9% with a mean dft and DMFT score of 1.36 ± 2.16 and 0.28 ± 0.80, respectively. The SiC index score for primary and permanent dentition were 3.53 ± 2.53 and 0.85 ± 1.20, respectively. The dft scores declined progressively as the age advanced whereas the DMFT scores increased from 5 to 12 years.

CONCLUSION

Caries prevalence was high in primary than permanent dentition. Comparison between dft/DMFT and SiC indices indicated there is a subgroup that presented with a higher caries rate.

Prevalence of Dental Caries and Traumatic Dental Injuries among 6- to 12-year-old Children in Bhopal City, India

Introduction

Dental caries and trauma are the most common oral health problems for many decades. There is need for prevalence data to analyze the nature of the problems and to take necessary steps in improving public health.

Aim and objectives

To assess the prevalence of dental caries and traumatic dental injuries among schoolchildren of age 6 to 12 years in Bhopal city.

Settings and design

Cross-sectional study design was selected. Universal sampling method was followed in this study.

Materials and methods

A total of 1,204 children were examined. The distribution of samples was done based on age, gender, residing area, and type of school.

Statistical analysis

Data were collected and statistically evaluated under chi-square test and analysis of variance.

Results

The overall caries experience (73.17%) was found to be higher than that of traumatic injury experience (20.9%). There was age-related correlation between age and decay, missing, and filled teeth score.

Conclusion

Since most injuries occur at home or at school, educating the individual is the key that will have a great impact on the prognosis of traumatic injuries. Also good food habits need to be instilled in children from a tender age with the help of parents, which is the ultimate solution to fight caries.

How to cite this article

Maran S, Shashikiran ND, Ahirwar P, Maran P, Kannojiya PR, Niranjan B. Prevalence of Dental Caries and Traumatic Dental Injuries among 6- to 12-year-old Children in Bhopal City, India. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2017; 10(2): 172-176.

Prevalence of Dental Caries Among Primary School Children of India - A Cross-Sectional Study

INTRODUCTION

In India, the trend indicates an increase in oral health problems especially dental caries, which has been consistently increasing both in prevalence and in severity. Children of all age groups are affected by dental caries. It becomes imperative to collect the data on prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs to provide preventive care.

AIM

To assess the prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs of 6-11years old Indian school children.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study. Sampling frame consisted of 6-11years old primary school children. Study sample consisted of 13,200 children selected from 10 talukas of Belgavi District, Karnataka, India. Clinical examination for dmft and DMFT was carried out in the school premises by five teams, each consisting of one faculty, three postgraduate students and five interns from the KLE VK Institute of Dental Sciences, Belagavi, Karnataka, India. The examiners were trained and calibrated by the principal investigator. Statistical analysis was done using Chi-square and t-test.

RESULTS

The overall caries prevalence was 78.9%, mean dmft was 2.97±2.62 and mean DMFT was 0.17±0.53. The decayed teeth component was the principal component in both dmft and DMFT indices. The mean dmft in boys was higher compared to girls and it was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

This study provided us with the baseline data, using which treatment was provided to all the children screened. The children were provided treatment at the camp site/dental hospital/satellite centers and primary health care centers according to the facilities available.

Dental Caries Scenario Among 5, 12 and 15-Year-old Children in India- A Retrospective Analysis

OBJECTIVES

Dental caries is the most prevalent dental disease and children are one of the most affected groups. Thus, the present study was conducted to assess the average dental caries prevalence across different WHO index age groups (5, 12 & 15 years) for the past fifteen years.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Literature search was performed electronically in various search engines like google scholar, PubMed, Copernicus, etc. using Dental caries and India as MeSH terms. Articles from the past 15 years reporting on dental caries prevalence and experience in India were searched and this online searching strategy collected and listed 781 articles. After evaluating their titles and abstracts, only 30 articles fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria & were finally selected for complete review and data collection. Five articles which were hand searched were also included. Pooled estimates were calculated for different index age groups and different regions (Northern and Southern) separately with a confidence interval of 95% both for prevalence and experience of dental caries.

RESULTS

The pooled prevalence of dental caries was found to be highest in 15 year olds followed by 5 and 12 years (62.02%, 48.11% & 43.34% respectively). Weighted mean was also found to be highest for 15 years, followed by 5 and 12 years (2.56±6.508, 2.49±7.78, 1.48±3.292 respectively). Pooled prevalence and weighted mean for the Northernern India region was found to be more in all the index age groups as compared to the Southernern India region.

CONCLUSION

More than 40% of the children in India have shown dental caries in both primary and permanent teeth in the past 15 years. Also, Northernern region was found to be more affected by dental caries than Southern region. Since children are seen as the future of the nation, this data could be helpful in the planning of oral health care services by the concerned authorities in the community.

Dental caries and the associated factors influencing it in tribal, suburban and urban school children of Tamil Nadu, India: a cross sectional study

Background

The study was planned to assess the prevalence of dental caries among tribal, suburban and urban children of Tiruchengode and Erode of Tamil Nadu state, India. The objective of the study was to assess the association of dental caries with family background, dental service availability, transportation and knowledge on preventive dental measures among these three groups

Design and methods

Cross-sectional study. A total of 1028 school children in the age range of 9-12 years from various government schools located in Palamalai and Kolli Hills (tribal), Tiruchengode (suburban) and Erode (urban), Tamil Nadu, were included in the study. Decayed, filled, and missing teeth (DMFT), decayed and filled teeth (dft) and Significant Caries Index were recorded. A specially prepared questionnaire was used to record all the data regarding oral hygiene practices, socioeconomic background, dental treatment availability, parent’s education level were used for the study. ANOVA t-test and post hoc test were used for comparing quantitative variables between the 3 subgroups.

Results

The tribal school children had 89.3% caries prevalence, where as it was 77% in suburban and 55% in urban school children. The mean DMFT score among tribal, suburban and urban school children were statistically significant different (P=0.001) between the three groups. There was a highly significant difference (P=0.001) in the mean DMFT score based on brushing frequency. There was a statistically significant difference (P=0.018) in the mean DMFT scores in the urban group based on the mothers education status. There were no statistically significant differences in the mean DMFT scores based on the presence or absence of television in their house and the parents’ income.

Conclusions

Oral hygiene practices, dietary habits and access to dental care services played an important role in prevalence of dental caries. It was observed that the socioeconomic status, parents’ educational status and mass media influenced the oral health of these children but without a significant contribution.

Effect of Probiotic Containing Ice-cream on Salivary Mutans Streptococci (SMS) Levels in Children of 6-12 Years of Age: A Randomized Controlled Double Blind Study with Six-months Follow Up

INTRODUCTION

To evaluate the caries risk based on the salivary levels of streptococcus mutans in children of 6-12 years of age group before and after consuming probiotic ice-cream containing Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12 and Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A double blind, placebo controlled trial was carried out in 60 children aged between 6 to 12 years with zero decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT). They were randomly divided into two equal groups. Saliva sample were collected before the consumption of ice-cream and Streptococcus mutans count was calculated and recorded as baseline data. For the next seven days both the groups were given ice creams marked as A and B. Saliva samples were collected after ice-cream consumption at the end of study period and also after a washout period of 30 days and again after six months. Samples were inoculated and colonies were counted.

RESULTS

On statistical evaluation by students paired t-test, probiotic ice-cream brought significant reduction in the Streptococcus mutans count after seven days of ice-cream ingestion (p<0.001) and also after 30 d of washout period (p<0.001). There was no significant reduction (p=0.076) by normal ice-cream consumption. After six months of the study period in both the groups the salivary levels of Streptococcus mutans was similar to the baseline.

CONCLUSION

Probiotic ice-cream containing Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12 and Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5 can cause reduction in caries causative organism. The dosage of the probiotic organisms for the long term or synergetic effect on the oral health are still needed to be explored.

Correlating dental caries with oral bacteria and the buffering capacity of saliva in children in Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Introduction:

Caries is associated with high counts of mutans streptococci (MS), lactobacillus (LB), and a low saliva buffering capacity (BC). No study using odds ratios (OR) has correlated caries and these factors and no similar study has been done in Saudi Arabia before. Objectives: To determine: The prevalence of caries, the number of colony forming units (CFUs) of MS and LB, the saliva buffering capacity (BC) and the relationship between these factors.

Materials and Methods:

This was an analytical cross sectional study on children from Madinah. Caries was recorded using dmft/DMFT (decayed, missing, filled teeth). The scores for MS and LB and the BC of saliva was calculated using the Caries Risk Test (CRT)^®.

Results:

A total of 316 students were examined; two-thirds (62%) were female and 25% were caries free. Saliva was collected from 235 participants and the majority had high MS and LB scores (66 and 71%, respectively) while 25% had a low saliva BC. The odds for those who had high LB and MS CFUs, were 9 and 4 times more at risk to developing dental caries and those with a low BC had significantly more caries (P = 0.03). The likelihood for those having severe caries and high counts of LB and MS was 25 (P < 0.01) and 6 (P = 0.042) times greater, respectively, compared to those with no or mild caries. Those with multiple risk factors were more likely to have caries compared to those with single or no risk factors present.

Conclusions:

The prevalence of caries was relatively high and many respondents had greater than 10⁵ CFUs/ml of MS and LB. Almost all with a low BC had severe caries. There was a strong correlation between high MS, high LB, and low BC and the high prevalence of caries; hence the combination of these factors could be confidently used to predict caries in this population.

Prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs in children in coastal areas of West Bengal

Objective:

This study was carried out to measure the caries prevalence and treatment needs in school children of 6-14 year old residing in coastal areas of West Bengal.

Materials and Methods:

A total of 1764 children of 6-14 years age group, studying in different primary and high schools of the coastal areas were examined using World Health Organization criteria (1997) to record the prevalence of dental caries. The treatment needs were also calculated according to that given criteria.

Statistical Analysis:

The results were subjected to statistical analysis using the Chi-square test and unpaired ‘t’ test.

Results:

Dental caries were founded low in the studied population. The overall all caries prevalence in the permanent dentition was 28.06%, in boys it was 25.39% and in girls it was 30.86%. Therefore caries prevalence in female was higher and which was statistically highly significant (P < 0.05). The most frequently required treatment was one surface filling followed by other treatments irrespective of sex and age group.

Discussion:

The presence of sea foods containing high fluoride and least availability of refined carbohydrate in the diet may be the reason of lower prevalence.

Conclusion:

child oral health is always a matter of concern for a developing country so further research is required to explore actual causes.

Impact of school based oral health education programmes in India: a systematic review

The teaching of Oral Health Education aims at preventing the dental disease and promoting dental health at early stages. Schools are powerful places to shape the health, education and well-being of our children. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of school dental health education programmes conducted in various parts of India. A systematic review from available literature was carried out. The study examined papers relating to oral health interventions which were published between 1992 and 2012. Ten articles were selected and included in the review. All the studies were found to contain the required information on the outcomes of school dental health programmes in India. Different methods were used to deliver oral health education. All the studies reported significant improvement in oral hygiene of school children after imparting dental health education. In some studies, school teachers were also trained to impart oral health education. Decreased level of awareness was found in children coming from low income families. Longer duration studies are needed to improve the results. School dental education programmes should be more focused on north-eastern Indian population.

Dental caries and associated factors in 12-year-old schoolchildren in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

OBJECTIVES

The aims of the present study were to describe the dental health status of 12-year-old schoolchildren in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, and to identify sociodemographic factors, oral health behaviours, attitudes and knowledge related to dental caries experience.

METHODS

The study took the form of a cross-sectional survey of 838 children in upper primary schools. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used. Dental caries was measured using World Health Organization criteria. Sociodemographic factors, oral health behaviours, attitudes and knowledge were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire.

RESULTS

The prevalence of dental caries in the permanent dentition was 27%. The mean number of decayed, missing and filled teeth was 0.5 (SD=0.9). The decayed component (D) constituted 91% of the total number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that children had a higher risk of having dental caries if they lived in urban area [OR=1.5, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.1-2.1], had visited a dentist (OR=1.6, 95% CI=1.2-2.2), did not use a toothbrush (OR=1.9, 95% CI=1.2-2.9), consumed sweets (OR=1.4, 95% CI=1.0-1.9) or performed poorly in school (OR=1.7, 95% CI=1.0-2.3).

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of caries in this sample of 12-year-old schoolchildren was low compared to that in other developing countries. The present study indicated that urban living conditions were associated with more dental caries. Since urbanization is rapid in India, oral health promotion at the present time would be valuable to prevent increased caries prevalence.