European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Aim: To assess and compare the relationship between dental caries and multimedia habits amongst institutionalized and non-institutionalized children.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted amongst 350 institutionalized and non-institutionalized school children aged 12-15 years of Pune district to assess the relationship between dental caries and multimedia habits. The 12-item closed questionnaire was framed to collect data on multimedia habits and diet history. Guardians were interviewed for institutionalized children and parents answered for non-institutionalized school children. Intraoral examination was done for dental caries.
Results: The mean age of the children from institutionalized and non-institutionalized schools was 13.5 + 3.2. Mean decayed teeth for institutionalized children were found to be 1.69+1.202 and non-institutionalized was 2.48+1.286 respectively which showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Mean DMFT scores for institutionalized children were found to be 1.93+1.21 and non-institutionalized was 2.66+1.27 respectively which showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups. There was a statistically significant difference (p-value <0.05)  seen with all questions on multimedia habits in relation to DMFT scores for non-institutionalized school children.
Conclusion: There is an association between dental caries and multimedia habits amongst non-institutionalized children. Higher caries prevalence was seen amongst non-institutionalized school children. Hence, there is a greater likelihood of having increased decayed teeth with increasing multimedia habits.
         Keywords: Dental caries, multimedia habits, children, institutionalized.