IADR Abstract Archives
Socio-Behavioural Predictors of Dental-Caries amongst Public School-Children in Delhi, India
Objectives: The present paper aims to assess the level of oral health, and to analyse the sociodemographic and behavioural correlates of Dental Caries among Public school children of Delhi.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out (using WHO Oral Health Survey-2013) to assess the oral health status among 12 and 15 year old children in 10 Public schools of Delhi. A sample of 500 per age group was calculated using prevalence data of Dental Caries (46.8% for 12 year old and 54.6% for 15 year old) with 95% confidence interval, power of 80% and non-response rate of 20%. Socio-demographic factors, self-reported oral health, self-reported oral problems, utilisation of dental services and oral hygiene were considered predictors of oral health. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for confounders was used for analysis.
Results: Final sample comprised of 1075 children [50.4% (15 year) and 49.6% (12 year)] with an almost equal gender distribution [48.9% males and 51.1% females]. Regression analysis showed that following risk factors remained significant (at 5% level) for the presence of caries: Age (p<0.001) with an Odds Ratio (OR) 1.96 for 15 year old children, Number of Siblings (p=0.037) with OR 1.34 for children having more than 2 siblings, Self-reported Teeth Health (p<0.001) with OR 2.26 for poor, Self-reported oral problems (p=0.047) with OR 1.32 for those having a dental problem present in past 12 months and Plaque score (p<0.001) with OR 1.86 for those having a fair plaque score.
Conclusions: Social gradient exist in dental caries in children from Public schools of Delhi. Range of risk factors exist in the form of distal determinants of Dental caries and thus an appropriate range of policies, strategies and approaches to disease prevention should be explored.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out (using WHO Oral Health Survey-2013) to assess the oral health status among 12 and 15 year old children in 10 Public schools of Delhi. A sample of 500 per age group was calculated using prevalence data of Dental Caries (46.8% for 12 year old and 54.6% for 15 year old) with 95% confidence interval, power of 80% and non-response rate of 20%. Socio-demographic factors, self-reported oral health, self-reported oral problems, utilisation of dental services and oral hygiene were considered predictors of oral health. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for confounders was used for analysis.
Results: Final sample comprised of 1075 children [50.4% (15 year) and 49.6% (12 year)] with an almost equal gender distribution [48.9% males and 51.1% females]. Regression analysis showed that following risk factors remained significant (at 5% level) for the presence of caries: Age (p<0.001) with an Odds Ratio (OR) 1.96 for 15 year old children, Number of Siblings (p=0.037) with OR 1.34 for children having more than 2 siblings, Self-reported Teeth Health (p<0.001) with OR 2.26 for poor, Self-reported oral problems (p=0.047) with OR 1.32 for those having a dental problem present in past 12 months and Plaque score (p<0.001) with OR 1.86 for those having a fair plaque score.
Conclusions: Social gradient exist in dental caries in children from Public schools of Delhi. Range of risk factors exist in the form of distal determinants of Dental caries and thus an appropriate range of policies, strategies and approaches to disease prevention should be explored.