Prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs amongst the school children of three educational zones of urban Delhi, India.

ABSTRACT

Context Dental caries is the most common oral disease that affects significant number of Indian population. The prevalence of caries in India is reported 31.5% to 89%. Aims: T0 his study was aimed to estimate the prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs in school going children of Delhi. Materials and Methods: A0 school based cross-sectional study was conducted in various educational zones of Delhi. A total of 520 school children in age range of 9-12 years were examined using WHO (1997) criteria. Statistical Analysis Used C0 hi-square test. Results: T0 he prevalence of dental caries was found to be 52.3% with mean deft and DMFT of 0.5038 ± 1.0859 and 0.8250 ± 1.3437, respectively. Besides various treatment needs 49.7% required restorative treatment. Conclusion: T0 he prevalence of dental caries in Delhi school children is high with D+d components comprising of more than 95%. This indicates lack of awareness and affordability to the dental facilities available. Therefore, there is a need to develop preventive and promotional oral health strategies to combat this infectious disease.