ABSTRACT
Background: Dental caries status in children is influenced by a number of risk factors such as sex, age, socioeconomic status, diet, and oral hygiene practices. The objective of the study was to assess and compare the prevalence of dental caries and calculus in 12-13 year old school children. Materials and methods: A sample of 761 children aged 12-13 years of both sexes from government and private schools. Clinical examination was carried out using the DMFT index for assessing the caries prevalence and Calculus component of Simplified-Oral Hygiene Index was used for assessing calculus in these children. Results: The prevalence of dental caries was seen more in children studying in government schools than in private schools which was statistically significant (p=0.018). When the gender differences were compared it was seen that girls showed a higher prevalence of dental caries (66.37% in private schools; 87.58% in government schools) than boys (64.47% in private schools; 71.98% in government schools). There was no significant difference seen in the prevalence of calculus between government and private school children. Conclusion: High prevalence of dental caries was found in these school children which suggested a poor performance of oral hygiene practices in them
ABSTRACT
AIM: The aim of the study was to screen for the common deltaF508 mutation and the poly T polymorphism and to determine their frequency in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene among the suspected CF cases referred to our clinical care centre for sweat chloride tests. METHODOLOGY: Sweat and EDTA blood samples were obtained from 23 clinically suspected cystic fibrosis (CF) cases. Sweat was estimated by pilocarpine iontophoresis procedure. Poly T polymorphism was detected by the multiplex-PCR based on ARMSTM technique and deltaF508 mutation by PCR-mediated site-directed mutagenesis method. RESULTS: Five cases, mainly with respiratory abnormalities and followed by steatorrhea had elevated sweat chloride levels (> 60 mmol/l), three of them, each with nutritional, respiratory and pancreatic abnormalities were borderline (40-60 mmol/l) and the remaining 15 clinically suspected CF cases had normal sweat chloride levels (< 40 mmol/l). The 9T variant was frequently observed (75%) in cases with elevated sweat chloride, including those exhibiting borderline values; with no 5T variant. The 7T was the most common variant (77%) observed in the cases with normal sweat chloride, with only one 5T variant (33%). Of the five cases with high sweat chloride, four cases were homozygous for deltaF508, whereas one was heterozygous with borderline sweat chloride, thus showing an overall frequency of 56.25% in the CF chromosome. DeltaF508 was found to be present with the 9T variant in all the instances. CONCLUSION: The presence of the 9T variant along with elevated sweat chloride levels can be used to predict a high risk of the individual harboring the severe deltaF508 mutation. It would be advisable to test for to the deltaF508 mutation along with the sweat chloride estimation in all the critically suspected CF cases diagnose CF with a higher degree certainty.