Sweet Score and Dental Caries Experience of 12-13 Year Old School Children in Chennai

Abstract

Dental caries is multi-factorial with sugar consumption being the most important factor. Sugared items are the most relished substances by the children. They consume it and develop dental caries even in their early childhood. Aim: To assess the association between sweet score and dental caries experience among 12-13 year school children in Chennai. Materials and Methods: Study population includes 317 children, 179 children from rural school and 138 children from urban school. Sweet score was assessed using Niezel and Pappas 24 hour diet method and dental caries was measured using DMFT index. Data collected was analyzed using Chi square test and Spearman's rank co-efficient correlation. Result: Statistical test showed significant difference between rural and urban population based on sweet score ( 2 14.064, p 0.029). The mean DMFT of urban school children was 1.89 and rural school was 0.92. There was no significant difference between rural and urban population based on mean DMFT ( 2 47.354, p 0.263). Spearman's rank co-efficient correlation shows no significant correlation between sweet score and dental caries. Results also showed majority of the study population 68.11% in urban and 67.03% in rural were in the 'watch-out zone', indicating the need of diet counseling among school children.