Association of Prevalance and Severity of Dental Caries with Consumption of Food and Beverage Across Age and Gender among 6-12 Years Old Children in Chennai, Tamilnadu

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and severity of dental caries with correlation of food and drink
consumption across age and gender in children aged 6-12 years in Chennai.
Materials and Method: Among different schools in Chennai, schools in Ramapuram were selected and the
students were selected by multistage random sampling. The pre-validated questionnaire was used, which
comprises of open ended questions about diet, brushing technique along with their demographic details.
Then the clinical examination was carried out to know about the caries prevalence and severity. A statistical
analysis was done.
Results: Snack food was consumed by large amount of children. 60 percentage of children consumed large
amount of carbonated drink than fresh juices. Low privileged population consumed large amount of sugar in
their tea or milk. When considering all variables, intake of confectionery was solitarily related with dental
caries prevalence and consumption of tea with sugar was solitarily related with caries severity.
Conclusion: Large amount of snacks and carbonated drinks were consumed by majority of children and
resulted in dental caries.