The Prevalence of Dental Caries in 18 To 30 Years Individual Associated with Socio-Economic Status in an Outpatient Population Visiting A Hospital in Chennai
Mohamad Qulam Zaki Bin Mohamad Rasidi
and Gheena SDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Saveetha Dental College and Hospital, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, India.
Corresponding Author E-mail: gheena_ranjith@yahoo.co.in
Abstract: 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 18 to 30 year old individuals associated with their socio-economic status in an outpatient population visiting a tertiary care dental hospital in Chennai. To determine the prevalence of dental caries in the specific age group of 18 to 30 years associated with varying socio-economic status. This study is to show how the socio-economic status of the individual will affect their dental caries occurrence. The study group comprised of 100 patients that visited a tertiary care dental hospital in Chennai as outpatients. The data obtained are their dental caries indices (DMFT), sex and economic status. The results later will be analyzed based on their income categories and dental caries indices. In medium socioeconomic status patients, most of the patients had DMFT score of 0. There were no DMFT score more than 1 from this range of socioeconomic status patients. From the data collected, the average DMFT score for low income patients is 3.4 and average for the medium income patients is 0.0. More campaigns and programs need to be done in order to raise awareness in low income family regarding the oral hygiene and thus decrease the DMFT score in community. Health workers and dental profession have the most important role in community to change the quality of dental health in developing countries such as India.
Keywords: Chennai; Dental Caries; Prevalence; Outpatient; Socio-Economic Back to TOC