title: Prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs amongst the school children of three educational zones of urban Delhi, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dental caries is the most common oral disease that affects significant number of Indian population. The prevalence of caries in India is reported 31.5% to 89%.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was aimed to estimate the prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs in school going children of Delhi.
  
  
  METHODS
  A school based cross-sectional study was conducted in various educational zones of Delhi. A total of 520 school children in age range of 9-12 years were examined using WHO (1997) criteria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chi-square test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of dental caries was found to be 52.3% with mean deft and DMFT of 0.5038 ± 1.0859 and 0.8250 ± 1.3437, respectively. Besides various treatment needs 49.7% required restorative treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of dental caries in Delhi school children is high with D+d components comprising of more than 95%. This indicates lack of awareness and affordability to the dental facilities available. Therefore, there is a need to develop preventive and promotional oral health strategies to combat this infectious disease.
authors: Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors: Harpreet
authors: H
authors: Grewal
authors: Mahesh
authors: M
authors: Verma
authors: Ashok
authors: A
authors: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003788:Dental Pulp Diseases / 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; D012737:Sex Factors; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000473:pathology; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants