Keywords
Dental caries; Nutritional status; Underweight; Stunting; Wasting
Abstract
Background and objectives: Malnutrition and dental caries is major public health problem in India among the children. The objective of this study was to find association between nutritional status and dental health among school children attending outreach program.
Material and methods: This is retrospective observational study. This study was conducted among the school children aged 5-15 years who attending outreach program conducted by M.R.Ambedkar dental college and hospital from the year 2010 to 2018. A total of 1231 participants were included in this study. The dental caries was measured based on the WHO diagnostic criteria for caries. Age and height measurement was also recorded for the children. The nutritional status was measured using the Gomez’s classification for under weight, Waterlow’s classification for stunting and wasting. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 24.
Result: A total of 1231 participants were there of which female-628, male-603, and were in the age group 5-10years-813, 11-15years-418. Prevalence of dental caries was 67.2%, prevalence of underweight, wasting and stunting is 46.8%, 15.1% and 32.9% respectively. Significant association was found between dental caries and stunting, dental caries and wasting. No association was found between dental caries and underweight. Mean number of dental caries was found to be significantly associated with underweight, wasting and stunting.
Conclusion: There was high prevalence of dental caries and malnutrition among the school children attending the outreach program. Outreach programs can be used as an effective measure to provide education regarding health, providing treatment in the area inaccessible to the health services.
Citation
Rani V, Umashankar GK, Benjamin N and Rahman SA. Association between Nutritional Status and Dental Caries among School Children Attending out Reach Program:-Retrospective Study. SM Prev Med Public Health. 2019; 3(1): 1028.