Prevalence of dental caries in relation to residential factor among (6-9) years old children in Baghdad

Abstract

dental caries survey was conducted concerning 6-9 years old children in two different social areas in the city of Baghdad.The total sample composed of 180 (90 males and 90 females). Purpose of this study included the estimation of the prevalence of dental caries and its association with the socioeconomic background of children.Results showed that for the primary dentition dmfs and dmft values were higher for males aged 6-7 and 7-8 years in high socioeconomic class (7.8 & 4.2 , 9.7 & 4.7) than in low socioeconomic class (6.7 & 3.9 ,7.2 & 3.2) with statistically no significant differences ( p> 0.05). For children aged 8-9 years in low socioeconomic area the values were higher compared with those in high socioeconomic area for both sexes.For the permanent dentition the high social class showed higher prevalence of dental caries compared with their lower social class counter parts except females aged 8-9 years with low socioeconomic status recorded higher DMFS and DMFT values ( 2.66 & 2.6) compared to those in high socioeconomic (2.6 & 1.8), while the relation was not significant ( p>0.05).Generally the present study showed that the prevalence of dental caries for primary teeth was higher among children with low social class (dmfs & dmft) than those with high social class, while the results were reversed for the permanent teeth.