Prevalence and Associated Factors of Dental Caries among School Children in Bharatpur, Chitwan.

Background The burden of dental caries among children is increasing due to consumption of sugary substances, poor oral care practices, and inadequate health service utilization. This study aimed to identify the prevalence and associated factors of dental caries among school children. The objectives of the study were to assess the prevalence of dental caries and associated factors among school children of private school of Bharatpur metropolitan city. Objective To assess the prevalence of dental caries and associated factors among school children of private school of Bharatpur metropolitan city. Method A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 150 children of two different private schools of Chitwan by using multi-stage probability sampling technique. The data was collected from 22nd November 2019 to 4th December 2019. Data were collected by using a semi-structured questionnaire to identify the prevalence of and associated factors of dental caries and decayed, missing and filled Permanent teeth (DMFT) index criteria. Result Out of total 150 children, 68% had dental caries. Among them, 64.5 % had caries in deciduous teeth, 17.6 % in permanent teeth and 17.6% had caries on both types of dentition. Only 40.7% of children had received dental check-ups. The mean Decayed, missing and filled primary teeth (DMFT)/ decayed, missing and filled Permanent teeth (DMFT) was 1.91 and 0.54 respectively. 83.3% and 57.1% of children had low severity caries in permanent and deciduous dentition respectively. The educational level, brushing habits, sugar consumption, and snack consumption, bottle feeding at infancy and mother's occupation was found to be associated with dental caries. Conclusion The study showed high prevalence of dental caries among school children. Less than 50% of children had a dental checkup in case of dental problems only. Association of dental caries was found with level of education, brushing habits, sugar consumption, snack consumption bottle feeding at infancy and mother's occupation.