title: Assessment of non-cavitated and cavitated carious lesions among 12- to 15-year-old government and private school children in Pune, Maharashtra, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present cross-sectional study was conducted to assess and compare the mean number of non-cavitated (initial lesions, IL) and cavitated carious lesions (WHO criteria) per child in the permanent dentition and to correlate it with the plaque index among 12- to 15-year-old government and private school children.
  
  
  METHODS
  481 schoolchildren aged 12-15 years were selected randomly by multistage random sampling from two government and two private schools. Demographic details were collected at the time of examination. Baseline plaque scores were recorded using the Silness and Löe plaque index. Immediately after brushing and drying the teeth, cavitated lesions were recorded based on WHO recommendations and non-cavitated lesions were recorded using the IL criteria of Nyvad et al and Fyffe et al.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean number of surfaces with cavitated and non-cavitated lesions for government school children was 2.13 ± 2.98 and 3.21 ± 2.97, respectively, and 1.24 ± 1.86 and 3.08 ± 2.33 for private school children, respectively. WHO + IL surfaces among private school children were 4.33 ± 3.48 and in government school children 5.35 ± 4.45. There was a positive correlation of plaque score with IL (r = 0.63) and WHO+IL (r = 0.73).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Non-cavitated lesions are about twice as common as cavitated carious lesions in school children. Government school children had a higher number of cavitated and non-cavitated carious lesions when compared with private school children.
authors.forename: Priyanka S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Machale
authors.forename: Sahana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hegde-Shetiya
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shirahatti
authors.forename: Deept
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Agarwal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003774:Dental Plaque Index; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D012923:Social Class; D017001:Tooth Demineralization / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology