Prevalence of dental caries in nursery school children of Akola city.

A study of prevalence and severity of dental caries was undertaken in seven nursery schools of Akola city in the age group of 5-6 years. A total of 508 children were examined out of which 288 were boys and 220 girls. The examination for dental caries and data collection was carried out as per W.H.O. (1987) criteria. Out of the total 508 children examined 61.41% were observed to be having caries with mean dmft/dmfs of 2.75+/-3.98 & 4.04+/-6.84 respectively. Total 17.91% school children were found to be having decay in either all upper or lower molars. In the high risk caries group 0.98% children were found to be affected with nursing caries and 0.2% children with rampant caries. Only a negligible proportion of filled teeth (1.42%) and missing due to caries (0.14%) was observed in the population. Occlusal surface caries was the most prevalent type of decay (44.71) and the mandibular deciduous second molars were the most affected by caries. Due to high prevalence of dental caries (61.41%) research must be carried out in the direction of identification of the children population at high risk of caries, so that a rigorous preventive programme be implemented.