Prevalence of class I caries in the second maxillary primary molar in 3-6-year-old children: A retrospective study

Class I caries is located in the occlusal surface of molars and premolars. Dental care is an international public health challenge, mainly in young group children, as they are easily affected by caries with an increased addiction to sweets and chocolates. Caries begin early in life and progress rapidly and can affect a child in the long-term quality of life. The data were collected from the institutional patient records between June 2015 and February 2021. The details of 6831 pediatric patients were collected, of which 1500 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The data were collected and analyzed using SPSS software (IBM Corp, IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 24.0. Armonk, NY). P = 0.005 was set as level of significance. Highest prevalence of caries was seen in male children with P = 0.008 (<0.05), denoting that there is a significant association between gender and number of teeth affected with caries. When age group was considered, the caries prevalence was highest at the age of 4 years and the P value was statistically significant. The prevalence of class I caries in the second maxillary primary right molars was more than the second maxillary primary left molars and within the age group of 4 years.