European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background : The current pocket money trends in school children is steeply increasing. Pocket money accessed by the children has a direct influence on eating habit leading to bitter consequences on their oral hygiene. This trend turns out to be a risk factor for dental caries.
Objective : The aim of the study was to find the relationship between pocket money trend and dental caries in school going children.
Materials and Methods: A questionnaire based cross sectional study was carried among 200 school children of age 8 to 13 from two selected urban area schools of Ahmedabad. Informed consent was obtained from the respective school Principals and also verbal consent was taken from each participating child. Questionnaire used to collect relevant data required for the study was pretested and validated. The questionnaire form was given to each child to fill it and simultaneously oral examination using mouth mirror and explorer was carried by trained dentist according to WHO standard criteria. Data was collected and analyzed using SPSS version 26 software. The chi-square test was used to study the relationship between variables and compare means. Correlation analysis was used to determine the degree of association at 5% level of significance.
Results :A strong positive correlation (r=0.9925)was seen between pocket money and caries. The results showed that 89% of children received pocket money among which 63% children had dental caries.
Conclusion : This study concluded that children receiving allowances could be a potential risk indicator of caries.