DOI: 10.36347/sjds.2021.v08i03.004

Pages: 102-106

Objectives: Dental caries still persist among majority of the World’s population with high prevalence of untreated cases seen among vulnerable groups. The study seeks to assess dental caries prevalence, severity and consequences among institutionalized orphans in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in the Dental Unit of MARKS Medical College & Hospital during the period from January 2017 to June 2019. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to screened participants for dental caries using dmft/DMFT, and PUFA/pufa indices, and International Caries Detection Assessment System (ICDAS) codes. Results: The study had 152 children; 102 (67.1%) males, 50 (32.9%) females (M/F 2.04:1), age range of 4-17 years and mean age of 11.36±3.62 years. Dental caries prevalence was 34 (22.4%) with mean dmft/DMFT score of 0.21 ± 0.41/0.14 ± 0.35 (M/F ratios 0.19 ± 0.59/0.18 ± 0.45: 0.21 ± 0.66/0.80 ± 0.27). The ICDAS code 6 (44.4%) was prominent followed by code 2 (22.2%). PUFA/pufa prevalence was 18.4% with mean score of 0.30 ± 0.46/0.22 ± 0.50 and P/p (42.6%) component had highest value. The untreated caries PUFA/pufa ratio was 51.9% while the decayed tooth without pulp involvement was 48.1%. Conclusion: Dental caries was more prevalent in deciduous dentition and female subjects; with advanced lesion higher than the early carious lesion.