ORAL HEALTH STATUS AND TREATMENT NEEDS AMONG 6-12 YEARS OLD CHILDREN VISITING A PRIVATE DENTAL HOSPITAL IN CHENNAI

Abstract

Oral health is an essential component of health throughout life. However millions of individuals suffer from dental
caries and periodontal disease, resulting in unnecessary pain, difficulty in chewing, swallowing and speaking and
increased medical costs. To access the prevalence of dental caries among 6- 12 year old children, using available data
from hospital case records. The study was conducted to evaluate the oral health status and treatment needs which
could be used to plan community based oral health promotion, fluorides and preventive oriented public dental health
care services. The study was conducted among 1276 childrens who visited Private Dental hospitals of age groups
between 6 to 18 years. Data was collected and tabulated in Excel. Data was analysed using SPSS. Even though dental
caries increase with age, no significant difference was found between the age group with respect to oral health status
and treatment needs. In the present study, it has been concluded that Dental health education and caries preventive
programs are needed to minimize caries among children.