Prevalence and Correlation of Dental Caries with its Specific Risk Factors in 5–15-year-old School-going Children in Urban Population of Ghaziabad

Dental caries is a rapidly emerging oral health problem amid the children with differing prevalence rate in different states of India. The data available from Ghaziabad city regarding dental caries are scarce; therefore, the study was conducted in 5–15-year school-going children in urban population of Ghaziabad. PURPOSE: The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of dental caries in school-going children of 5–15-year age groups in urban population of Ghaziabad and to assess and intercorrelate its relationship with the form, frequency and total sugar exposure, socioeconomic status (SES) of family, and fluoride in drinking water. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in 3,000 school-going children aged 5–15 years (divided into three age groups of 5–6, 7–12, and 13–15 years) studying in the government and private schools in the urban area of Ghaziabad city. A specifically designed pro forma was used for recording the personal data; sociodemographic profile; World Health Organization oral health assessment form for dental caries; 24-hour dietary recall to record the form, frequency, and total number of sugar exposure; and SES of the family (Kuppuswamy scale) of children. The concentration of fluoride in collected samples of drinking water was measured by the visual spectrophotometric method test. The results were tabulated and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The overall caries prevalence in 5–15-year age group was found to be 54.6%. There was a statistical significant difference found when the age-group comparison (p = 0.001), gender-wise comparison (p = 0.001), SES comparison (p = 0.002), the physical form of sugar intake (p = 0.038), frequency of sugar consumption at/between meals (p = 0.001), and total number of sugar exposure during last 24 hours (p = 0.001) were evaluated with caries prevalence. The mean water fluoride level in the surveyed area was found to be 0.48 ppm and was found to be nonsignificantly (p = 0.248) associated with caries prevalence. CONCLUSION: The risk factors, such as age, gender, physical form of sugar, frequency of sugar consumption at and between meal and total number of sugar exposure during the last 24 hours, and SES of parents, were found to be associated with the prevalence of dental caries in school-going children of 5–15-year age group. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Kumar D, Gandhi K, Maywad S, et al. Prevalence and Correlation of Dental Caries with its Specific Risk Factors in 5–15-year-old School-going Children in Urban Population of Ghaziabad. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2020;13(1):72–78.