A Study on Assessing the Chance of Dental Caries Level using Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale in 5-yearold Children in Kandy District, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Aim:The aim of this preliminary study was to assess the chance of dental caries level using early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS) in a group of 5-year-old children in Sri Lanka. Materials and methods:A sample of school children aged 5+ years was taken for the study from Denuwara educational zone in Kandy District in Sri Lanka using probability proportional to size sampling method in 2010. Dental caries and oral health impact of the children were recorded. The mean decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) was 0.01 ± 0.3, while mean dmft was 3.7 ± 0.29. The mean decayed teeth (d) was 3.0 ± 0.23, the mean extracted teeth (m) was 0.46± 0.08, and the mean filled teeth (f) was 0.21 ± 0.05. Twenty four percent of them were caries free (95% confidence interval 0.17, 0.32). Ordinal logistic regression models were fitted by considering dmft levels as the response variables, and oral health impact as the predictor variable. Since Pearson test p-value and deviance test p-value are 0.99 (p > 0.05) and 0.986 (p > 0.05) respectively, the null hypothesis is not rejected as the model fitted the data adequately. Conclusion:This model could be used to predict the chance of dental caries level with the score of ECOHIS. Therefore, ECOHIS can be taken as a reliable indicator to assess the level of dental caries.