Abhirami Kannan1, Valli Govindarajan2
BACKGROUND
Dental caries is a universal health problem with involving the people
globally of all regions and society. The agoni s ing fact is
that despite several efforts towards total eradication dental caries is still prevalent. As the prevalence of dental caries is very
high among school children and there is a paucity of such data i n Coimbatore and the literature review does not reveal many
such studies from this area the study was conducted in the school going children in Sulur.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
All the students were screened visually using torch with the help of mouth mirror
and probe and the observation recorded. A
health screening camp was conducted for the students in private school, Sulur February 20 25, 2017 by a team of doctors from
PSG UHTC. A total of 1945 students were screened. The students health details have been entered in their health card and
those requiring further evaluation have been counseled and the nursing staff at school has been requested to facilitate and
guide for followup. All the students were screened visually using torch with the help of mouth mirror and probe and the
observation recorded. All the students who were present in school during 20 th to 25 th were screened and considered as the
inclusion criteria. The exclusion criteria were the absentees during this period. The students were made to sit in an ordinary
chair in broad daylight facing away from the sunlight and examined in their school. Data were compiled in an excel worksheet
and the percentage calculated.
RESULTS
A total of 1945 students were screened, of which
541 students were foun d to have dental problems that is about 28% of the
total screening done. The percentage of dental caries were found to be higher compared to other dental diseases like deep
caries, malalignment, malocclusion and calculus. The percentage of dental caries was found to be higher in the females about
78% than the male for whom it was about 72%. The percentage of deep caries in female was 12% and male was 13%. The
malocclusion in female 14% and 1% MFA (myofunctional appliance), male were about 15%. The percent age of calculus in
female was 8% and male 13% and the follow up procedure for these conditions will be restoration, extraction, braces and MFA
appliance and scaling.
CONCLUSION
The high prevalence rate shows further follow up and awareness among teachers,
parents and students regarding dental caries
and dental hygiene is needed. Awareness among students can be generated by the school teachers because they are role model
for the students.
