Prevalence and pattern of approximal caries among Nigerian adults in a teaching hospital

Abstract

Background: The prevalence and pattern of presentation of approximal dental caries are yet to be well-characterized worldwide due to its visual diagnostic challenges. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and pattern of approximal caries in Nigerian adult patients in a teaching hospital. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study on patients that underwent simple teeth extractions following dental caries of the posterior teeth from April 2021 to May 2022. Data collected comprise age of patients, gender, level of education, jaw involved, side of the jaw, teeth involved, and surface of teeth. The diagnoses of approximal caries were made from intraoral plain radiographs. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were performed. All the data were analyzed using the SPSS software version 21. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 146 patients were diagnosed with approximal caries of the 1143 patients that had simple teeth extraction following dental caries given a prevalence of 12.8%. The mean age of the patient was 39.8 ± 16.0 years. There were more 65.8% females. The majority (83.6%) of the patients that had approximal caries had tertiary level of education. More than two-third (83.6%) of the patients had approximal caries in the maxillary jaws. The highest (43.8%) proportion of the second premolars was affected more and this was followed (24.7%) by first premolars and least (6.8%) proportion was on second molars. More than half (64.4%) of the approximal caries were located on the distal surfaces of the posterior teeth. Conclusion: The prevalence of approximal caries was relatively high among Nigerian adult patients. It is higher on the distal surface of maxillary premolars of the female patients that had tertiary level of education.