Prevalence of dental caries among school children in Meerut

Background: Healthy teeth and oral tissues and the need for oral health care are important for any section of society. Dental caries, the product of man's progress towards civilization, has a very high morbidity potential and thus, is coming into focus of the mankind. The prevalence and incidence of dental caries in a population is influenced by a number of risk factor such as sex, age, socioeconomic status, dietary patterns and oral hygiene habits. Despite credible scientific advances and the fact that caries is preventable, the disease continues to be a major public health problem. This present study was designed to assess the prevalence of dental caries amongst school children between 05-18 age in Meerut city, UP India. Objective: To assess the prevalence of dental caries among 05-18 years school students of Meerut city. Methods: A school based cross sectional study was conducted. A total of 4433 school students (05-18 years) were examined from one government and one private schools that were selected by simple random sampling method among all the schools in Meerut city. Results: The prevalence of dental caries was found 1366 (30.9%). Prevalence of Dental stains, dental crowding & Ellis fracture were 12.03%, 08.00% and 01.01% respectively. Conclusion: Dental caries was found to be very high in both the schools of Meerut city. Regular dental checkups and education on routine oral hygiene procedures is the need of hour for better dental health of school children.