title: Prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs in the rural child population of Nainital District, Uttaranchal.
abstract: Dental caries is a rapidly emerging oral health problem amongst the children of India. Its incidence in different states varies between 31 and 89%. This study was undertaken with a twin objective of assessing the prevalence of dental caries in parts of Uttaranchal state and designing the interventional strategies with a view to attend the oral health care needs of children. A total of 722 school children in the age range of 7-12 years of Nainital district were examined using WHO (1997) criteria. An overall caries prevalence of 77.7% was recorded, which is 67.26% in the age group of 7-9 years and 80.86% in 10-12 years with DMFT+deft of 1.97 and 2.61, respectively. It was observed that there were greater treatment needs in older age group. Another significant finding of the study was that the 59.96% required restorative treatment out of the various dental treatment needs evaluated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Grewal
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D004245:DMF Index; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants