Dental caries in children less than 5 years of age and its impact on Quality of Life

Abstract

Dental caries may have a huge and direct impact on quality of life of an individual. In case of children, it is even more important to have healthy teeth Objective: To evaluate the impact of dental caries on quality of life in children less than 5 years of age Methods: In this cross-sectional analytical study conducted in DHQ Hospital, Hafizabad, Pakistan, 370 children of both genders and within age range of 1-5 years during a period of 9 months. Decayed Missing Filled (DMF) Index was used for the assessment of dental caries. Data was analysed by using SPSS version 23.0 Results: There was high frequency (243, 65.7%) of dental caries in children. Mostly their parents were illiterate (70%) and children were not brushing their teeth regularly (93.8%). Conclusions: Poor oral hygiene and dental caries was associated with low quality of life.