Prevalence and Factors Leading to Dental Caries among Pre- School Children of Karachi, Pakistan: a Cross-sectional Study

Background: Dental caries is highly prevalent and a significant public health problem among children throughout the world. Epidemiological data regarding the prevalence of dental caries among pre-school children in our country is very limited. The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of dental caries among pre-school children of Saddar Town, Karachi, Pakistan and the factors leading to caries. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 1000 preschool children was conducted in Saddar town, Karachi. Two-stage cluster sampling was used to select the sample. At first stage, the preschools were identified. In second stage, from the eight selected clusters, preschool children between 3 to 6-years age group were assessed for dental caries. Results: The caries prevalence was 51% with a mean dmft score of 2.08 (±2.97) with decayed teeth (1.95). The mean dmft of males was 2.3 (±3.08) and of females was 1.90 (±2.90). The mean dmft of 3, 4, 5 and 6 year olds was 1.65, 2.11, 2.16 and 3.11 respectively. A significant association was found between dental caries and following variables: increasing age (p-value <0.004, 0.006) (x 2 = 0.59, 0.22), presence of dental plaque (p-value <0.00) (x 2 = 2.34), poor oral hygiene (p-value < 0.00) (x 2 = 3.97), use of tooth-paste (p-value <0.02) (x 2 = 0.66), normal milk (p-value <0.002) (x 2 = 0.65) as well as flavored sweetened milk (p-value <0.01) (x 2 = 1.42). Conclusion: Half of the preschoolers had dental caries with dmft score escalating as age advanced. Fifty-one percent caries burden among children is quite high and poses detrimental effects on children‟s quality of life as well as burden on country health system.