Abstract: Dental caries is a very common chronic infectious disease that is preventable and related to dental behaviors. The aims of this study were to investigate oral health practice and prevalence of dental caries among public school students aged 12 years in Msallata city. A cross-sectional study has been done, the study involved 283 of children studying in government schools who aged 12-year-old.
Dental caries was assessed using the WHO (1987) criteria. Dental examination of children was done using mouth mirror and dental explorer. Information about oral health practice was collected through a dental health questionnaire. The IBM (SPSS) Version 20.0 was used to analyze the collected data. The results showed that the dental caries prevalence was (56.5%). The prevalence of dental caries in the males was higher than females. The difference between the two groups with respect to prevalence of dental caries was statistically significant different P<0.05. The students who had good oral health practice were about (51.9%) whereas the students had poor oral health practice were (48.1%). Health education on good oral health practice should be emphasized among school children.
Keywords: Oral health; Dental caries; 12 years; Masllata city.
I. INTRODUCTION
Dental caries is an infectious teeth disease in which hard teeth tissue (enamel, dentin, and cementum) is demineralized and ultimately leads to cavitation. If untreated, dental caries in children can lead to several adverse health outcomes. Caries can cause pain, suffering, functional deterioration, and diminished quality of life [1] and tooth loss [2]. The treatment of oral disease is extremely costly [3].
Good oral hygiene should start in earlier age than what is generally believed. Oral care during childhood, along with acquiring habits for its maintenance, is what will allow adults to keep their teeth throughout their lifetime. The change to healthy attitude and practice can be occurred by given adequate information, motivation and practice of the measures to the subjects [4].The incidence of dental caries is predicted to increase in many developing countries, particularly as a result of a growing consumption of sugars and inadequate exposure to fluorides [5]. The prevalence of dental caries is higher in developing countries than in developed ones [3]. There are some factors affecting caries including dietary sugar consumption, exposure to fluoride and salivary flow [6]. In many countries, epidemiological studies have shown a decrease in caries among kids in recent decades [7, 8]. Nevertheless, since the late 1980s, a decline in the tendency towards stagnation in caries has been reported among pre-school children [9].
In addition, in many developed countries there is a tendency for the incidence of dental caries to rise again, particularly among young kids [10]. As a consequence, kids and teenagers still experience dental caries. In addition, dental caries is a public health issue due to the fact that it is a common disease that is expensive to treat and affects the quality of life of kids of all ages [11].There have been no studies up to date on the caries's prevalence and oral health practice among students aged 12 years old in public schools in Msallata city has been published. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the
Prevalence of dental caries and oral health practice among public school students aged 12 years in Msallata city
1Saad O. Alsharif, 2Aisha A. Abuaisha, 3Ahmed O. Alhareb, 4Aisha M. Abady, 5Kamar M.
shandola, 6Samira J. Ali
prevalence of dental caries and to implement an oral health survey to investigate the oral health practice among public school students aged 12 years in Msallata city
II. INSTRUMENTSANDMETHODOLOGY
A cross-sectional study was conducted on two hundred eighty three students. This study comprised of 12-year-old public school boys and girls in Masllata city. The study was conducted between October 2017 and April 2018.The questionnaire about oral health practice factor was adopted from [12]. It has been translated to Arabic language by expert who has experienced in both Arabic and English language.
The questionnaire was organized into two sections: Section (A) regarded information on demographic variables of respondents (gender and name of school). Section (B) had questions that elicit information on practices towards dental health. The questionnaires were distributed to the parents through the teacher and were accompanied by a letter explaining the purpose of the study. Parents of the children were asked to answer the questionnaire consisting of structured questions covering oral health practice.
The total score was classified into two categories based on their median: poor oral health practice of 0 to 13 and good oral health practice which are 14 to 24. Dental examination was performed using World Health Organization criteria and procedures [13]. The children were examined while seated in school chair under daylight using dental mirrors, dental explorer probes and cotton rolls to control salivation during examination. Primarily, the diagnosis of caries was relied on visual criteria. This study was conducted after receiving ethical approval from the head master/ Ministry of Education in Msallata city for conducting the study of the public schools children. Consent letter has been sent to parents to get their consent for their children to be participating in this study, confidentiality was assured to the parents. Students have been given some explanations about the objectives of study.The statistical analysis was carried out with use of SPSS version 20.0 package. The Independent-samples t-test was used to find out the differences in prevalence of dental caries between the groups. Differences were considered significant when P< 0.05. Descriptive analysis was used with the purpose of determining the practice of oral health and the dental caries prevalence.
III. RESULTSANDDISCUSSION
The results showed that the study included 283 Libyan school children their ages 12 years. There were 186 (65.7%) males and 97 (34.3%) females as shown in Table (1).
Table 1: Gender distribution of respondents.
Gender Frequency Percent (%)
Males 186 65.7
Females 97 34.3
Total 283 100
Dental caries is a serious public health problem and caries had impact on individuals and communities. Prevalence of tooth decay among children is on the rise in both developed and developing countries. Determination of the prevalence of tooth decay rate is a necessary step for dental services in the community and to provide preventive health care for problems of the teeth.
Table (2) showed that more than half of the children 160 (56.5%) had dental caries. Consequently the students who were dental caries absent were 123 (43.5%) of the sample size.
Table 2: Dental caries distribution of respondents.
Dental caries status
Frequenc
y Percent (%) Dental caries
present 160 56.5
Dental caries
absent 123 43.5
Total 283 100
Table (3) shows the prevalence of dental caries by sex. The prevalence of dental caries in the males was 42.5%, and the prevalence of dental caries in the females was 57.5%. The difference between the two groups with respect to prevalence of dental caries was statistically significant different P<0.05.
Similar findings were reported among Qatari [14].
Table 3: Prevalence of dental caries by sex.
Sex Frequency Percent
(%) P value
Males 68 42.5
P =
0.028
Females 92 57.5
Total 160 100
Table (4) shows that the students who brush their teeth more than twice a day was (9.2%), (41.3%) of students who brush their teeth once a day and (7.1%) of students who did not brush their teeth at all.
Moreover, (17.0%) of children were brushing their teeth before going to sleep, (29.7%) were brushing their teeth in the morning when waking up, while (45.9%) were brushing their teeth after every meal. In addition, the majority of children (52.7%) spend less than three minutes on teeth brushing while the students who spend three minutes or more on tooth brushing were (38.2%). Tongue cleaning was carried out by (79.5%) whereas, (20.5%) of respondents answered never clean their tongue. Regarding to the frequency of visiting dentist, (59.4%) had never visited the dental clinic, (33.2%) visit a dentist when there was pain in the teeth, (6.3%) of them visit once a year and (1.1 %) of respondents visit the dentist every 6 months. Also regarding to the tools used for cleaning the teeth (7.4%) of children had never used any tools to brush their teeth, (83%) of children used toothbrush and toothpaste for cleaning their teeth, Miswak and dental floss used by (8.5%) and (0.7%) respectively and only one student use fingers to clean her teeth. As a response from the question about brushing teeth under parental supervision, (89%) of children were not guided by their parents. The remaining of students (11%) was guided by their parents. A total of (86.6%) of children claimed to have their own toothbrush while (13.4%) did not have a personal toothbrush. Furthermore, about (48.8) of the children used a soft toothbrush. A total of 42.8% were used a hard toothbrush and only 8.4% of school children did not use toothbrush at all. Among all study participants, 45.6 students change their toothbrush within three months, (32.5%) of total students change their toothbrush within six months and (21.9%) of participants do not change their toothbrush or change it after it wears off. In addition, regarding rinsing mouth after any meal, there were (55.1%) Of students who rinse their mouth after any meal while (44.9%) of children who did not rinse their mouth after any meal. According to oral health practice (51.9%) of the students had good oral health practice while (48.1%) of the students had poor oral health practice.
Table 4: Respondents according to oral health practice.
Status of oral health practice
Frequenc y
Percent (%) Frequency of tooth
brushing
None 20 7.1
Once a day 117 41.3
Twice a day 120 42.4
More than twice a day 26 9.2 Time of tooth brushing
None 21 7.4
When wake up 84 29.7
After meal 130 45.9
Before going to sleep 48 17.0 Time spend on tooth
brushing
None 26 9.1
Less than 3 minutes 149 52.7
3 minutes or more 108 38.2
Brushing Tongue
No 225 79.5
Yes 58 20.5
Frequency of visit the dentist
None 168 59.4
When have pain 94 33.2
Once a year 18 6.3
Every 6 months 3 1.1
Tools using to brush teeth
None 21 7.4
Finger 1 0.4
Miswak 24 8.5
Dental Floss 2 0.7
Toothbrush with
toothpaste 235 83.0
Brushing teeth under parental supervision
No 252 89.0
Yes 31 11.0
Having own toothbrush
No 38 13.4
Yes 245 86.6
Type of toothbrush
None 24 8.4
Soft 138 48.8
Hard 121 42.8
Frequency of changing toothbrush
None or wears 62 21.9
Six months 92 32.5
Three months 129 45.6
Rinse mouth after any meal
No 127 44.9
Yes 156 55.1
Oral health practice
Poor 136 48.1
Good 147 51.9
The dental caries prevalence based on recent researches in Libya, claimed that the tooth decay prevalence among school age children between the ages of 10-13 years and the rate was 56.94% [15]
and among schoolchildren 12-year-old was 40.8% [16]. Compared to the tooth decay prevalence among school age children in this study with recent researches carried out in other countries, in the current study, the prevalence was lower than those seen in the Philippines where the tooth decay prevalence among the ages of 6-12 years was in primary dentition 71.7% and in the permanent dentition was 68.2%
[17], also according to a study carried out by [18] among 12-13 years old school children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the tooth decay rates were between 92.3% and 87.9%. Similarly, a study conducted by [19] among schoolchildren aged 13-14 in southeastern Brazil shows the prevalence was 78%. In the study in Saudi Arabia carried out by [20] among children in primary school the dental caries prevalence was 68.9% and other study in Libya conducted study by [21] among 6-12 years, the prevalence was 61.9%. On the contrary, the prevalence of tooth decay rate in the current study was higher than it was in Iran 36.2% [22], Italy dental caries experience was found in 43.1% [23], (Campus et al., 2007), and India caries experience was 10% [24], and prevalence of dental caries was 48.3 in Tunisia [25]. Differences in age and climate might be likely to contribute to a wide variation in the prevalence. In addition, this is partially because of the absence of structured oral preventive methods, restricted access to preventive and therapy facilities and inadequate science expertise or practitioners' failure to care for young kids in Libya.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Dental caries has become the most common oral disease and a major public health concern in children and adults in the developing and developed countries and is the main reason for loss of teeth in early ages. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of dental caries and associated besides that, the present study was also to determine oral health practice. The study included 283 Libyan school children their ages 12 years. There were 186 (65.7%) males and 97 (34.3%) females. The dental caries prevalence was found as 56.5% from the total sample size. Also (51.9%) of the students had good oral health practice whereas 136 (48.1%) of the students had poor oral health practice.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank Ministry of Education in Msallata city and Elmergib University, Libya, for giving the authors an opportunity to conduct this research.
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