Caries prevalence and associated risk factors in school children at Kannur in Kerala, India: A cross-sectional study

Background: Caries is the most prevalent affliction of children and is dependent on various factors such as social, economic, demographic and nutritional factors. Aim: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of dental caries in school going children and its association with risk factors. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the period from August 2019 to December 2019. Study subjects were 1947 school children. The examination was done by a single examiner and the data was entered by trained assistants. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to record the risk factors for dental caries in children. The components of Decayed, missing, filled (DMF) and Decayed, extracted, filled (def) were recorded as per the criteria of WHO (1997) for diagnosing caries. Using SPSS version 22 (IBM Corporation Chicago, USA) data were analyzed. Chi-square test were done to find the relationship of prevalence with the risk factors. P < 0.05 is considered as statistically significant. Results: Total Caries prevalence was found to be 49.1%.The highest rate of caries occurrence, 55.4% was observed in children who belonged to the age group of 6-8 years. The def was shown to be more in the 9-11 age group and DMF in 12-15 age groups with 3.34 +/- 3.74 and 2.18 +/- 2.65 respectively. Statistically significant increase in caries is found in children whose both the parents were working (P < 0.001) and also in children who take sweets twice a day or more (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of caries in 6-15 year old school children at Kannur is 49.1%. Working parents and high sugar consumption were found to be risk factors for caries in school going children.