Frequency and Determinants of Dental Caries in Local Inhabitants of a Rural District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan

Abstract

Background
 Dental caries in one of the common dental health problem and is affecting approximately 2 billion of world population. The main objective was to assess the frequency and determinants of caries among the study population of Lower Dir District.
 Methods
 After taking ethical approval, a cross sectional study was conducted in Lower Dir District, in which a total of n=149 participants were assessed and examined for dental caries, from September 2018 to February 2019. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data regarding dental caries and its determinants. Data was analyzed by SPSS and finally results were presented in form of tables.
 Results
 The results showed that 31.54% of the study population has dental caries. Approximately, 59.73% of parents were in age range of 25 to 45 years, 16.78% had monthly income less than 15000 per month, 48.99% were illiterate, and 32.21% had normal BMI. Moreover, 69.13% knew the causes of dental caries, 54.36% parents used fluoride tooth paste, 58.39%, and 44.97% of children used toothbrush & fluoride toothpaste respectively. Furthermore, 70.47% of children had preference for sweet foods, and 54.36% had poor oral hygiene practices.
 Conclusions
 It was concluded that dental caries showed moderate to high prevalence among the studied population and showed strong relationship with monthly income, literacy level, and number of children. Moreover, tooth-brushing, fluoride tooth-paste, and their frequency, acute and chronic dental problems, oral hygiene and sweet food preference showed positive association with dental caries among children and thus effective preventive, promotive and curative services were needed to reduce dental caries and its associated complications.
 Key Words
 Caries (MeSH), Literacy (MeSH), fluoride (MeSH), Toothbrush (MeSH), Oral Hygiene (MeSH)