Prevalence And Severity Of Dental Caries And Oral Hygiene Status Among The 35-40 Years Old Adult Population Attending A Private Dental College- A Hospital Based Cross Sectional Study

Dental caries is one of the most infectious diseases worldwide. Dental caries also referred to as tooth decay is a multifactorial disease characterized by demineralisation of inorganic substance of the tooth. Progression of dental caries was directly proportional to the poor oral health maintenance. Poor oral health affects the individuals identity resulting in low confidence levels. Among the older age individuals, dental caries were more common, due to poor oral maintenance and dental neglect. Dental neglect is the main reason for caries at an older age, due to poor socioeconomic status, lifestyle etc. The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and severity of dental caries and oral hygiene status among the 35-40 years adult population attending a private dental college. This was a record based study with a sample size of 701, irrespective of the gender. This study was conducted in a university setting in Saveetha Dental College, Chennai. Data was collected from a case sheet record. The data was then categorised according to their age groups, gender, DMFT index values and OHIS index values. The coding was done in MS Excel Sheets. Results were then carried out using IBM SPSS Version 20.0 followed by the tabulation and graphical illustration. Independent t-test was used to compare the mean DMFT and OHI score with age and gender respectively. The results revealed that females (7.80 ± 3.88) were more prone for caries than the males (6.53± 3.46) with high prevalence was found among the 38-40 years age group. In conclusion, dental caries were highly prevalent among females with a mean value of 7.8 and commonly among the age group 38-40 years.