Online ISSN: 2515-8260

Association between Dental Caries and Multimedia Habits amongst Institutionalized and Non-Institutionalized Children

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Vini Mehta1 , Sahana Hegde Shetiya2 , Pradnya Kakodkar3 , Rajpurohit L4 , Abhishek Kumbhalwar

Abstract

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 noninstitutionalized school children. Hence, there is a greater likelihood of having increased decayed teeth with increasing multimedia habits.

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