Introduction: Oral health, the mirror of general well being, is altered by many mediators like infection, chronic inflammation, and genetic predisposition. The present dietary pattern among children is contributing to childhood overweight as well as increasing the risk for developing dental caries. The food habits contributing to dental caries as well as obesity are similar. Undernutrition has also shown to be associated with the dental caries. The study was conducted to investigate the relationship of body mass index to dental caries.Methods: A cross sectional clinical study was conducted on 7 to 12 year old children, studying in public schools, visiting the Department of Pediatric Dentistry for a routine dental check up. The study evaluated the nutritional status by calculating the body mass index using the formula BMI= Weight (kg)/Height2 (m2). Then their Body Mass Index and correlated with the Dental caries status using WHO criteria for decayed, missing and filled teeth index. Data analysis was done by SPSS 20 software program.Results: Total of 251 children between 7 to 12 years were evaluated. The mean age of the participants was 9.12 years. No statistically significant result was found on comparing the nutritional status to dental caries (P=0.43). A statistically significant difference though was found on comparing dental caries status among gender (P=0.021) as well different age groups (P=0.031).Conclusions: The study showed the presence of more normal and underweight children but there was no statistically significant association between body mass index and decayed, missing and filled teeth index.

Objective: To evaluate the anxiety level of parents accompanying their children for the dental treatment. Materials & Method: Dental Anxiety Scale-Revised (DAS-R) questionnaire was filled by 101 subjects (53 females and 48 males) visiting the dental department for their children’s dental treatment. Result: 62.4 % parents accompanying their children had no or low anxiety levels and 9.9% and 5.9% showed high to severe anxiety levels respectively. There was no statistical significant difference seen between the anxiety levels in male and female parents. Conclusion: 37.6 % parents accompanying their children to the dentist showed moderate to severe anxiety levels with no significant difference seen in the overall anxiety levels of mothers and fathers. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ojn.v3i1.9282 Orthodontic Journal of Nepal, Vol.3, No.1, 2013: 47-52

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Introduction: Oral health is an integral component of overall health and well-being. Unfavorable oral hygiene habits cause early development of dental caries. Parents play a vital role in the oral health habits of their children. The oral care for the children can be improved by enhancing the oral health knowledge of their parents.Objectives: The objective of this study was to find out the knowledge, attitude and practices of parents toward their children oral health compared with dental caries status.Methodology: The sample consisting of 168 parent-child pair attending the Pedodontics department from November-December 2017 participated in the study after approval from Institutional review committee. A validated Nepali version of a structured questionnaire was used to collect the information on the knowledge, attitude and practice of the parents about oral health which was compared with the dental caries status of children and parents. The caries status was evaluated using the WHO criteria. The data was tabulated and subjected for statistical analysis.Results: Most of the parents (89.3 %) were aware that dental caries was the most common dental disease affecting children. Around 57.7% knew the importance of fluoride in prevention of dental caries. The children had higher dental caries rate than parents which was statistically significant. The overall oral health knowledge and attitude of the parents was adequate but their practice was inadequate. Inadequate attitude and practice of the parents had statistically significant impact on the caries status of the child.Conclusions: The parent's oral hygiene knowledge has an effect on their children oral health. So adequate education for parents is necessary to improve the influence of their dental health habits on their children's oral health.  BJHS 2018;3(2)6: 447-452.