Assessing clinical sequelae of untreated caries among 5-, 12-, and 15-year-old school children in ambala district: A...

Dental caries is a public health problem globally, especially in children. Thus, it is important to quantify its clinical consequences in terms of its prevalence and severity.

This study aims to assess the prevalence and severity of oral conditions linked with untreated dental caries using pulp involvement, ulceration, fistula, abscess (pufa/PUFA) index in 5-, 12-, and 15-year-old school children in Ambala district.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 433 school children of 5-, 12-, and 15-year-old age group in Ambala district.

In the present study, participants were recruited from randomly selected schools and were examined according to pufa/PUFA index and Oral Health Surveys Dentition Status.

Data were analyzed using SPSS Software Version 20.0 (Chicago, USA). The statistical significance was determined by Chi-square test, and level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Correlation analysis was expressed in terms of Pearson's correlation coefficient (r).

Caries prevalence was reported to be 58.4% while the prevalence of odontogenic infections was 45.3%. Untreated caries pufa/PUFA ratio among 5, 12, and 15 years old was 44.58%, 38.33%, and 36.18%, respectively. The care index among 5, 12, and 15 years old was 0, 3.31%, and 36.18% emphasizing the lack of utilization of dental services by school children.

The use of PUFA/pufa index as an adjunct to the classical caries indices can address the neglected problem of untreated caries and its consequences.