title: Dental Caries Scenario Among 5, 12 and 15-Year-old Children in India- A Retrospective Analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dental caries is the most prevalent dental disease and children are one of the most affected groups. Thus, the present study was conducted to assess the average dental caries prevalence across different WHO index age groups (5, 12 & 15 years) for the past fifteen years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature search was performed electronically in various search engines like google scholar, PubMed, Copernicus, etc. using Dental caries and India as MeSH terms. Articles from the past 15 years reporting on dental caries prevalence and experience in India were searched and this online searching strategy collected and listed 781 articles. After evaluating their titles and abstracts, only 30 articles fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria & were finally selected for complete review and data collection. Five articles which were hand searched were also included. Pooled estimates were calculated for different index age groups and different regions (Northern and Southern) separately with a confidence interval of 95% both for prevalence and experience of dental caries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pooled prevalence of dental caries was found to be highest in 15 year olds followed by 5 and 12 years (62.02%, 48.11% & 43.34% respectively). Weighted mean was also found to be highest for 15 years, followed by 5 and 12 years (2.56±6.508, 2.49±7.78, 1.48±3.292 respectively). Pooled prevalence and weighted mean for the Northernern India region was found to be more in all the index age groups as compared to the Southernern India region.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than 40% of the children in India have shown dental caries in both primary and permanent teeth in the past 15 years. Also, Northernern region was found to be more affected by dental caries than Southern region. Since children are seen as the future of the nation, this data could be helpful in the planning of oral health care services by the concerned authorities in the community.
authors.affiliation: Tutor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, D.J College of Dental Sciences and Research , Modinagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India .
authors.forename: Hansa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kundu
authors.affiliation: Professor and HOD, Department of Public Health Dentistry, D.J College of Dental Sciences and Research , Modinagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India .
authors.forename: Basavaraj
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Patthi
authors.affiliation: Reader, Department of Public Health Dentistry, D.J College of Dental Sciences and Research , Modinagar, Ghaziabad,Uttar Pradesh, India .
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singla
authors.affiliation: Professor and HOD, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Amrita Sschool of Dentistry , Cochin, Kerala, India .
authors.forename: Chandrashekar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jankiram
authors.affiliation: Tutor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, D.J College of Dental Sciences and Research , Modinagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India .
authors.forename: Swati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: Tutor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, D.J College of Dental Sciences and Research , Modinagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India .
authors.forename: Khushboo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Singh
keywords: Caries experience; Developing countries; Prevalence; WHO index age groups