title: Dental caries experience in high risk soft drinks factory workers of South India: a comparative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The consumption of soft-drinks has been associated with dental caries development.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to evaluate dental caries experience amongst the workers working in soft-drink industries located in South India and compare it with other factory workers. To evaluate the validity of specific caries index (SCI), which is newer index for caries diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study carried out among 420 workers (210 in soft-drinks factory and 210 in other factories), in the age group of 20-45 years of Udupi district, Karnataka, India. Index used for clinical examination was decayed, missing, filled surfaces (DMFS) index and SCI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean and standard deviation (SD) of decayed surface (5.8 ± 1.8), missing surface (4.3 ± 2) and filled surface (1.94 ± 1.95) and total DMFS score (12.11 ± 3.8) in soft-drinks factory workers were found to be significantly higher than the other factory workers. The total SCI score (mean and SD) was found to be significantly higher in soft-drinks factory workers (5.83 ± 1.80) compared with other factory workers (4.56 ± 1.45). There was a high correlation obtained between SCI score and DMFS score. The regression equation given by DMFS = 1.178 + 1.866 (SCI scores).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The caries experience was higher in workers working in soft-drinks factory and this study also showed that specific caries index can be used as a valid index for assessing dental caries experience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Shashidhar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.forename: Ramprasad
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vasthare
authors.forename: Siddharth Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Anjali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Nitai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Debnath
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001628:Beverages; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult