Dental Caries and its Relationship to Malocclusion in Permanent Dentition Among 12-15 Year Old School Going Children

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to know the prevalence of dental caries among children having malocclusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 880 students aged 1215 years, among whom 488 were boys and 392 were girls. A proforma was prepared to record dental caries status and dental esthetic index (DAI) using the WHO Oral Health Assessment Form (1997). Data were analyzed using Student’s t-test and ANOVA. The P value of 0.05 or less was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: It was found that 644 (73.2%) had no abnormality or minor malocclusion, whereas 115 (13.0%), 100 (11.4%) and 21 (2.4%) had definite, severe and very severe or handicapping malocclusion, respectively. Overall mean of decayed teeth (DT) component was found to be 0.95 ± 1.006, missing teeth 0.23 ± 0.670 and filled teeth 0.23 ± 0.559 and decayed, missing, filled tooth (DMFT) was 1.41 ± 1.483. DT and overall DMFT component significantly increased with increasing DAI of malocclusion (P ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSION: The severity of dental caries showed positive relation with DAI and age.