Unmet restorative treatment needs among orphanage children of Uttara Kannada District

Objective: To evaluate the unmet restorative treatment need among orphanage children of Uttara Kannada District. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done to evaluate the unmet restorative treatment need among orphanage children of Uttara Kannada district. DFMT, PUFA and Specific caries index were used to evaluate the dental caries. Mouth mirror, explorers, CPI probes were used to examine dental caries under artificial light. Results: A total of 256 children were surveyed for unmet dental treatment need out of which 138 were girls. 80% of the children were caries free in permanent dentition while only 48% were caries free with respect to deciduous dentition using DMFT/dft indices. Pulpal involvement was seen among 31% of the children using PUFA index. Absolute treatment need with DT and dt indices were 91 and 545 in number while with specific caries index it was seen to be 705. Conclusion: The unmet restorative treatment need among the orphanage children was high and use of conventional indices alone might result in underestimation of treatment needs. Type of restorative treatment needs like pulpal/restorative, occlusal/non-occlusal, esthetic/non esthetic restorations were underestimated with conventional indices.