Prevalence of Dental Caries among 5–11-Years-Old Children in Ibrahim Hyderi, Coastal Area of Karachi

Abstract

Objective: Dental caries is the most common oral health disease of school-aged children globally. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of dental caries among 5–11-years-old children in Ibrahim Hyderi, a coastal area of Karachi.

Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study in which 350 children aged 5–11 years were investigated. Dental examination was performed according to the World Health Organization criteria. Socio-demographic data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Descriptive statistics were employed to compute the mean and standard deviation of quantitative variables. Frequencies (numbers and proportions) were implemented to assess the prevalence of dental caries among groups as p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 182 (52%) male and 168 (48%) female participants, with 96 (27.4%) aged 5-6 years old, 148 (42.2%) aged 7-9 years old and 106 (30.2%) aged 10-11 years old group participated in the study. The overall prevalence of dental caries among the participants was 91.3%, with the male participants having a higher prevalence (52.1%) than the female counterparts (39.2%). Following the age of the participants, the prevalence of dental caries in primary, permanent, and whole dentition among children was 248 (70.8%), 172 (49.1%), and 310 (88.5%), respectively. Moreover, the odds of decaying permanent teeth were significantly higher in boys (p = 0.04), and in children whose fathers are unemployed (p = 0.02) compared to their counterparts.

Conclusion: The prevalence of dental caries among the studied children in mixed dentition was high and associated with sociodemographic factors. It is important to provide and implement preventive, therapeutic and informative programs for the control of dental caries at individual and school levels for local health policymakers.