Prevalence and Comparison of Dental Caries Experience Using DMFT and Significant Index Caries (SIC): A Hospital Based Cross-Sectional Study

Author(s):

Jerusha Santa Packyanathan, Jayashri Prabakar* and Ganesh Jeevanandan

The most common chronic disease of young adults is dental caries. It affects nutritional intake, speech and other activities. It is a multifactorial disease influenced by diet microorganisms, tooth morphology and genetics. The main aim of this cross-sectional study is to determine prevalence and comparison of dental caries experience among 18-21 years old using DMFT abs SIC index. This is a record based study with a sample size of 566, irrespective of the gender. The present study was conducted among 18 to 23 yearold patients who visited the outpatient department at the institution and the data was collected from the patient records. The data was categorized into age groups, gender and DMFT index. The coding was done in MS excel. The data was transferred to a host computer and processed using SPSS software version 21.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) by tabulation and graphical illustration. Descriptive statistics was used to study the data collected and to analyse frequency distribution. DMFT and SIC index scores were continuous variables. Hence, it was presented as mean and standard deviation values. Independent T test was used to find the difference between different age groups and Gender with respect to mean DMFT. The results showed that prevalence of dental caries was found to be highest in 21 to 23 years old age group and among male population. The mean number of decayed teeth is 4. The SIC index score was found to be 8.95. The mean DMFT score of the population was 6.2. Comparison between the DMFT and the SIC index scores indicate that there is a sub-group with higher caries rate.