Prevalence of Dental Caries among adolescence of Dhanusha District, Nepal

Abstract

Background  and  Objectives:  In  developing  countries  like  Nepal,  the  oral  health  system  is currently  in  transition  phase  facing  a  high  prevalence  of  dental  caries.  It  has  significant  social impact in important life activities which hinders the achievement and ma intenance of good oral health  due  to  lack  of  dental  awareness  in  all  age  groups.  Streptococcus  mutans  is  the  most predominant  organism  to  cause  dental  caries.  Therefore, the  present  study  was  designed  to determine the prevalence of dental caries and to identify its etiology among adolescence.

Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried by following Standard protocols of Bergey’s  Manual  of  Systematic  Bacteriology  to  isolate  and  identify  the  organism.  The  data  was analyzed  using  SPPS  17.0  and  Microsoft  excels  2007  which  was  considered  as  statistically significant at p-value < 0.05.

Results: The prevalence of dental caries in adolescent was found to be 33%.  The highest numbers of  patients  having  dental  caries  were  in  the  age  group  of  15-19  in  female  (66.32%)  than  male (39.70%).  Bacterial  growth  was  observed  more  in  female  (75.60%)  than  male  (24.39%)  which was found to be statistically significant (p=0.0001).  S. mutans  was found as the most important cause  of  dental  caries.  Maxillary  region  of  tooth  were  more  vulnerable  to  dental  caries  than mandibular  region  of  tooth.  Most  of  the  respondents  had  once  per  day  brushing  habit  without fluoridated dentrifice containing tooth paste.

Conclusion:  The prevalence of dental caries was found one third of total.  S.mutans  was the main causes of dental caries and molars tooth are more affected than others.

Janaki Medical College Journal of Medical Sciences (2015) Vol. 3 (2): 29-37