Oral health status among Bhoi children of Nimapara block in Puri district, Odisha – A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: In Odisha, the scheduled castes account for 17.13% of the overall population. In spite of prioritizing the oral health status of children globally, oral diseases continue to be a major public health problem in India. Due to lack of literature and baseline data, the aim of the study was to assess the oral health status of children of Bhoi scheduled caste of Nimapara block in Puri district of Odisha. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 208 Bhoi children who were enrolled using a multistage randomized sampling method in Nimapara Block of Dhanua Gram Panchayat, Puri District. Information on sociodemographic details and oral health status were collected using the modified WHO Oral Health Assessment Form for children, 2013. Number and percentages was derived using MS Excel and SPSS package version 26.0. Comparison between discrete and continuous data was done using Chi-square test and ANOVA. P value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean DMFT and dmft of the total study participants were 1.28 ± 1.159 and 2.53 ± 1.058, respectively, and these findings were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Among the age group of 6-12 years, the mean number of sextants with bleeding and calculus were 0.66 ± 0.476 and 0.62 ± 0.686, respectively, and among 13-15 years aged group, they were 0.86 ± 0.351 and 1.52 ± 0.688. Mild fluorosis was detected in the study population. Dental trauma was seen in 21% of the Bhoi children. CONCLUSION: Most of the participants had poor oral hygiene and the prevalence of dental caries was high. As there is lack of knowledge about oral hygiene maintenance, proper health education should be administered. Under these circumstances, the implementation of preventive programs such as pit and fissure sealants, atraumatic restorative restorations can be implemented to reduce the dental caries.