Caries experience in 3-7 year-old children in Haryana (India)

A study was carried out to know the prevalence of dental caries in 509 primary school children in the age group of 3-7 years. The mean prevalence of caries in all the age group from 3 to 6 year was 33.8% while the prevalence 6 years was 38.2%. It was seen that prevalence was significantly higher (P < 0.05) at the age of 6 years (dmft = 0.91 SD = 1.40) as compared to 3 years (dmft = 0.41 SD = 1.16). Deciduous molars were most affected by caries and prevalence of restored teeth was 1.2%. The difference between males and females was statistically significant and the mean dmft per child was found to be 0.73 and mean dmft per affected child was 2.37. Assessment regarding oral hygiene habits depicted that only 3% of children cleaned their teeth once a day with tooth brush and tooth paste.