A Correlation Between Socioeconomic Determinants and Dental Caries Risk in Islamabad, Pakistan

Objective: Dental caries is a multifactorial infectious disease that causes demineralization of teeth. Socioeconomic status (SES) and educational level are associative factors in caries development. This study aimed to determine the correlation between socioeconomic determinants and dental caries risk among patients reporting to a tertiary care hospital in Islamabad. Materials and Methods: This prospective cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at Islamabad Dental Hospital over six months from February 2023 to August 2023. A total of 322 participants were enrolled based on the convenience sampling technique. The participant's SES was assessed using the index score proposed by Oyedeji whereas caries risk status was evaluated using the DMFT index. Data was analyzed for frequency and percentages using SPSS version 22. Bivariate and multinomial regression analyses were performed to check for the association between SES and caries with a p < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: Among all the participants, 260 (80.7%) had decayed teeth, 112 (34.7%) had missed and 50 (15.5%) had their teeth restored previously. The mean DMFT±SD score was 5.51±5.453. There was a statistically significant difference in the DMFT, D, M, and F scores between the different levels of SES. Participants with a high socioeconomic score (81.4%) are less likely to exhibit caries risk than those with a low socioeconomic score. Conclusion: The prevalence of dental caries is higher among people of lower SES. High DMFT scores indicate that dental caries is a highly neglected disease among Pakistani people, particularly among people of low SES.