Comparison of the source of introduction to cariogenic food substance and caries prevalence in children.

Introduction: Dental caries being a multi-factorial disease depends on lot of factors. Since awareness and exposure seems to have increased, in the present scenario it is difficult to assume that one particular source would increase the occurrence of dental caries. Children are exposed to different media sources and spend most of their free time watching them. They are attracted by messages of advertisers' and susceptible to stylish advertisements of foods often harmful to oral and general health.

Aim: To compare the effects of three different sources of introduction to cariogenic food substance among school children and their role in caries prevalence.

Materials And Methods: A total of 300 school children were selected for the study and a questionnaire was prepared keeping in mind the various sources introducing cariogenic foods to children namely television advertisement, magazines/news paper, posters/banners. Following which oral examination will be done to determine the number of carious lesions in the subjects. The data will be acquired, computed and statistically analysed to compare the correlation between these sources and caries prevalence.

Results: Children who watched television advertisements and asked for food items and soft drinks were found to have more caries and DMFT/dmft index.

Conclusion: A total ban on advertisements would not be practically possible. A more realistic approach would be to limit the number of advertisements that feature potentially cariogenic and unhealthy food products, and also ensure that they ideally carry statutory warnings.