Dental caries and its relationship to malocclusion in permanent dentition among 12-15 year old school going children.
BACKGROUND
This study aimed to know the prevalence of dental caries among children having malocclusion.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study included 880 students aged 1215 years, among whom 488 were boys and 392 were girls. A proforma was prepared to record dental caries status and dental esthetic index (DAI) using the WHO Oral Health Assessment Form (1997). Data were analyzed using Student's t-test and ANOVA. The P value of 0.05 or less was considered as statistically significant.


RESULTS
It was found that 644 (73.2%) had no abnormality or minor malocclusion, whereas 115 (13.0%), 100 (11.4%) and 21 (2.4%) had definite, severe and very severe or handicapping malocclusion, respectively. Overall mean of decayed teeth (DT) component was found to be 0.95 ± 1.006, missing teeth 0.23 ± 0.670 and filled teeth 0.23 ± 0.559 and decayed, missing, filled tooth (DMFT) was 1.41 ± 1.483. DT and overall DMFT component significantly increased with increasing DAI of malocclusion (P ≤ 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The severity of dental caries showed positive relation with DAI and age.
Lecturer, Department of Orthodontics, Mahatma Gandhi Mission's Dental College and Hospital, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Shashank S
SS
Gaikwad
Lecturer, Department of Orthodontics, Teran Dental College, Nerul, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Anjali
A
Gheware
Reader, Department of Conservative Dentistry, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Deemed University, School of Dental Sciences, Karad, Maharashtra, India.
Laxmikant
L
Kamatagi
Health Care Management, University of Findlay, Ohio, USA.
Sandeep
S
Pasumarthy
Lecturer, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth Dental College and Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Vivek
V
Pawar
Lecturer, Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, S.M.B.T Dental College and Hospital, Sangamner, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India.
Madhura
M
Fatangare
Dental esthetic index; dental caries; malocclusion