Oral Health Status among 9 Years Old School Children in Al-Diwaniyah City, Iraq

Abstract

Background: Although they are not life threatening, dental caries and periodontal disease are the most predominant and widely spread oral diseases throughout the world. Another most common dental problem seen in children is dental trauma. The aims of the study included the investigation of the prevalence and severity of dental caries, gingivitis and dental plaque in relation to gender, furthermore, the prevalence and severity of the traumatized anterior teeth were assessed. Materials and Methods: This oral health survey was conducted among primary school children aged 9 years old in Al-Diwaniyah city in Iraq. The total sample composed of 600 child (320 males and 280 females) selected randomly from different school in Al-Diwaniyah city. Diagnosis of dental caries was according to the criteria described by WHO (1987). Plaque index of Silness and Loe (1964) was used for plaque assessment, gingival index of Loe and Silness (1963) was followed for recording gingival health condition. Diagnosis and recording of traumatic dental injuries was according to Garcia-Godoy's classification (1981). Results: Results showed that the prevalence of dental caries was 85% for 9 year-old school children. Regarding primary and permanent dentition, dental caries was higher among females compared to males with statistically significant difference (P<0.05) for primary dentition, on the other hand, males showed higher values of filled surfaces compared to females with statistically significant difference (P<0.05) for primary dentition and highly significant difference (P<0.01) for permanent dentition. Finding of this study revealed that 100% of the children had gingival inflammation. Furthermore, the values of plaque and gingival indices were higher among males compared to females with statistically highly significant differences (P<0.01). The prevalence of children with traumatized anterior teeth was 10.5% of the total sample. Males were more affected than females, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Simple enamel fracture was the most common type of injury among traumatized teeth among children. The maxillary central incisors were the most commonly injured teeth. Conclusion: A high prevalence of dental caries and gingivitis were recorded.

Oral health in relation to nutritional status among 10 years old primary school children in Al-Hillah city/ Iraq

“…The result reflected the presence of poor oral hygiene among the rural children, which could be due to the low awareness level and the less use of oral hygiene aids in rural area than the urban one (27) . In present study, there was no significant difference between boys and girls concerning of plaque index and this was in agreement with other studies (12)(13)(14)(15) . However, other studies (8,23.28-34,12) found that boys had statistically higher plaque index than girls.…”

“…This difference could be due to the effect of many factors like; diet, oral hygiene, age, secretion of salivary gland could be effect on the amount of dental plaque, therefor the amount of plaque was vary among the individuals (4,35,36) . Result in this study showed that the prevalence of gingivitis was lower than that reported by previous Iraqi studies (11,12,15) . It was assured that dental plaque is the main etiological factor for gingivitis (37).…”

“…Al-Galebi in 2011 reported higher percentage for the moderate amount of plaque in Al-Nassiyria Governorate (11) . Al-Awadi in 2016 reported that, the higher percentage of the children (79.5%) demonstrated amount of plaque scores between 1.1-2 in Al-Dewaniyia Governorate (12) . However other Iraqi studies were found no significant difference between males and females concerning plaque index such Al-Galebi, El-Samarrai, Hassan, and Droosh (11)(12)(13)(14)(15) .…”

“…Al-Awadi in 2016 reported that, the higher percentage of the children (79.5%) demonstrated amount of plaque scores between 1.1-2 in Al-Dewaniyia Governorate (12) . However other Iraqi studies were found no significant difference between males and females concerning plaque index such Al-Galebi, El-Samarrai, Hassan, and Droosh (11)(12)(13)(14)(15) . Al-Galebi in 2011 reported moderate type of gingivitis among 9 -10 years -old in Al-Nassiyria city (11) .…”

“…Malnutrition can increase the susceptibility to periodontal disease directly or in directly: by forming changes in the supporting soft tissue structures and by differences in the functional ability of saliva that will lead to alterations in the differentiation, development and maturation of gingival margin, attachment epithelia, periodontal membrane and alveolar bone (7) . Some of previous Iraqi studies addressed the Prevalence of gingivitis and their relation to nutritional status (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Al-Galebi in 2011 reported higher percentage for the moderate amount of plaque in Al-Nassiyria Governorate (11) .…”