Assessment of Oral Hygiene and Dental Decay among School Children of Rural Area of Pakistan

Background: Oral health is a fundamental component of overall health and well-being, with dental caries recognized as a prevalent issue affecting a large number of populations globally. The study aimed to assess Oral Hygiene and Dental Decay among School Children. Methods: This community based cross-sectional study was conducted among children of government schools in rural area of Punjab tehsil and, District Attock using non-probability consecutive sampling technique. The duration of the study was 6 months. A Self designed questionnaire were developed based on the literature were used. Data were analyzed with Datatab. Result: A total of 134 school children including 89 females (66.42%) and 45 males (33.58%). The mean age of the all children was 10.75+1.04 years; with age of female respondents to be 10.65 ± 1.06 years, and male to be 10.93 ± 0.99 years. Majority of the children belonged to the middle class families (n=115, 85.82%), whereas, 19 were from low income families (14.18%). results showed 45.52% (n=61) of school children to have varying level of dental decay. Out of these 61 individuals, 34.33% had initial, 8.21% had moderate, and 2.99% had some advanced stage of dental decay. A significantly strong association was found between the oral hygiene and dental decay (p<0.001), concluding that those children having good oral hygiene showed good dental health. There was no significant association between dental decay and gender (p=0.763), showing that the oral health is irrespective of the gender. Conclusion: Poor oral hygiene is significantly associated with some form Dental caries and is independent of gender.