Comparative Assessment Of Frequency Of Sugar Intake and Oral Hygiene Practices On Dental Caries Between South Indian and Malaysian Population

Aim: To compare the frequency of sugar intake and oral hygiene practices on dental caries between South Indian and Malaysian population. Materials and Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted among South Indian and Malaysian Population. A total of 200 patients were randomly selected from two Malaysian Universities (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia & Universiti Malaya), Kuala Lumpur and out patients from Saveetha dental college, Sri Ramachandra University which constituted the South Indian population. A self-administered questionnaire was used in the present study that had 13 questions. The questions ranged from general questions related to intake and frequency of sweets/sugar consumption and also the frequency of tooth brushing. Data was entered in MS Excel sheet and was subjected to statistical analysis using IBM SPSS software version 20.0. Descriptive statistics were expressed by means of frequency and percentage. Chi-square test was performed to find the association between the variables. Results: More than 65% of the patients who participated in the survey from both the age groups as well as countries agreed that they consume sugar before sleep. About 53% of the 18-29-year-old Malaysian and Indian population said that they only brush once daily where as in the other age group, 75% of the Indian population and 58.1% of the Malaysian population from the test group said that they only brush once daily. Conclusion: The result of the study indicates that the sugar consumption by the older population of both countries is higher than the younger group. Out of the 80% of youths, around 60% have gotten fillings done. Out of the 67% of Indian population and 58% of the Malaysian who have visited the dentist, 78% and 88% of them respectively have gotten fillings done. Clinical Significance: Dental caries is the most prevalent disease, and is caused due to unhealthy nutritional habits and poor oral hygiene. The relationship between sugar intake, which includes the type of sugar being consumed in relation to the dietary intake of the patients and the oral hygiene assessment of the patients to the prevalence of Dental caries should be explained to the patient as a method of prevention or as a platform to reduce the severity and occurrence of Dental caries. Hence, the aim of this present study is to compare the frequency of sugar intake and occurrence of Dental caries in the South Indian population and Malaysian population.