Association of Prevalance and Severity of Dental Caries with Consumption of Food and Beverage Across Age and Gender among 6-12 Years Old Children in Chennai, Tamilnadu

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and severity of dental caries with correlation of food and drinkconsumption across age and gender in children aged 6-12 years in Chennai.Materials and Method: Among different schools in Chennai, schools in Ramapuram were selected and thestudents were selected by multistage random sampling. The pre-validated questionnaire was used, whichcomprises of open ended questions about diet, brushing technique along with their demographic details.Then the clinical examination was carried out to know about the caries prevalence and severity. A statisticalanalysis was done.Results: Snack food was consumed by large amount of children. 60 percentage of children consumed largeamount of carbonated drink than fresh juices. Low privileged population consumed large amount of sugar intheir tea or milk. When considering all variables, intake of confectionery was solitarily related with dentalcaries prevalence and consumption of tea with sugar was solitarily related with caries severity.Conclusion: Large amount of snacks and carbonated drinks were consumed by majority of children andresulted in dental caries.