Background: Dental caries is the most prevalent and chronic oral disease, particularly in childhood age. Dental caries is a progressive infectious process with multifactorial etiology.
Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of dental caries and its associated factors among primary school children at Surabaya, as the metropolitan city with the largest Javanese race population in Indonesia.
Materials and methods: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Surabaya in August 2017. Cluster random sampling technique was used to select the children. Structured questionnaire by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used to interview children and/or parents to collect sociodemographic variables. Clinical dental information was obtained by experienced dentist using dental caries criteria set by the WHO. Binary and multiple logistic regression analysis were computed to investigate the factors associated with dental caries.
Results: Of 213 children, 50.4% were boys. Majority (99%) of the children cleaned their teeth using toothbrush. The proportion of children having dental caries was 53%. Decay-Missing-Filled (DMF) score was 1, decayed-extracted-filled (def) score was 1.08, and total DMF and def score were 2.07. Toothbrush usage, soda consumption, and educational level of fathers were the associated factors for dental caries.
Conclusion: Toothbrush usage, soda consumption, and educational level of fathers were the associated factors for dental caries. Therefore, prevention measures, such as health education on oral hygiene, dietary habits, and importance of dental visit, are obligatory for children.
Keywords: Children; dental caries; dental plaque.
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