Dental caries and academic performance in schoolchildren from a Peruvian public educational institution

Abstract

Objective: To compare the prevalence of dental caries through the DMFT /dmft index with the low academic performance in schoolchildren at a public school in Lima. Methods: Observational, analytical, cross-sectional, prospective design. The sample was made up of schoolchildren aged 10 to 12 from the Fortaleza de Vitarte Educational Institution N o . 1239, from the period 2019. The sample size was made up of 136 schoolchildren who met the inclusion criteria. Dental evaluations were performed after dental hygiene and a record of the odontogram was taken using the DMFT / dmft index, to determine the presence of dental caries. Likewise, the record of grades was collected to obtain academic performance. Results: A high prevalence of dental caries was found in schoolchildren (94.9%), with moderate lesions prevailing (36.8%) compared to healthy teeth (5.1%). Likewise, the prevalence of carious lesions in children aged 11 years (50.7%), followed by 12 years (26.5%) and 10 years (22.8%), an increase is observed between the ages of 10 years and 11 years. In addition, a low academic performance of (10.3%) was presented, being the distribution in males (6%) and in females (3.7%). It was found that the DMFT +dmft are homogeneous in approved children and children with low performance both in age and sex, meaning that there is no statistically significant difference between both variables (p> 0.05). Conclusion: Despite the high prevalence of dental caries, it does not show a correlation with low academic performance in schoolchildren aged 10 to 12 according to the DMFT / dmft index.