Armaghane Danesh Bimonthly Journal (Dec 2015)
Dental Caries and Related Factors among 7-12 Year-old School Children in Yasuj, Iran, in 2014
Abstract
Introduction and objective: Tooth caries is the most prevalent infectious disease in children. The purpose of this study was to assess carries experience indexes and related factors among 7-12 year-old school children in Yasuj, Iran, in 2014. Materials and methods: In the present Cross-sectional and analytical study, using a two-stage random sampling, 460 students from primary schools of Yasuj city and surrounding villages were selected. The children were clinically examined at their school by a professional calibrated dentistry team. Their demographic and socioeconomic status, mouth health behaviors and teeth carries status and consumed nutritional materials were gathered by a questioner and a dental chart. The data were analyzed using inferential statistical methods. The SPSS software version 22 was used to extract the outputs and &alpha=0.05 was considered as the significant level. Results: The dental caries prevalence of deciduous, permanent and total of two type of dents were 75.2, 41.1 and 89.8 percent, respectively and the dmft, DMFT and dmft+DMFT indexes were 3.57, 0.87, and 4.44, respectively.. The caries prevalence of permanent teeth and DMFT in girls were significantly higher than boys (p=0.046), but the caries prevalence in total of dents in boys was significantly higher than girls ( p=0.32). Furthermore, the dental caries prevalence in permanent teeth and DMFT in children resident in rural areas were significantly higher than those in urban areas (p0.1). Conclusions: Prevalence and severity score of dental caries among 7 - 12 year-old Yasuj students were higher than the WHO standards. The tooth caries experiences were more prevalent in boys and in children resident in rural areas, increased with age and decreased with BMI and less prevalent in children with higher family socioeconomic status. Tooth brushing and flossing and consuming dairy foods were protective agents in occurring tooth caries in primary school children in Yasuj, Iran.
