Prevalence and Associated Factors of Dental Caries among Primary School Children in South-East Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to identify the prevalence and associated factors of dental caries in primary school children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 657 primary school children from South East, Nigeria. Data on age, sex, birth rank, dental visits, oral hygiene status, and enamel defects were collected. The presence of dental caries was recorded by using the World Health Organization criteria. Mean DMFT/dmft scores were determined and SPSS version 21 was used for analysis. Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were conducted and P </= 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The study participants were 316 (48.1%) males and 341 (51.9%) females, and their mean age was 8.41 +/- 2.18 years. The prevalence of caries was 22.7% while the mean DMFT and dmft scores were 0.10 and 0.45, respectively. Bivariate analysis showed a significant association between birth rank (P = 0.04), oral hygiene status (P = 0.05), enamel defects (P < 0.001), and dental caries. Multivariate regression analysis showed that good oral hygiene (OR = 0.180, CI: 0.036-1.003, P = 0.04), fair oral hygiene (OR = 0.576, CI: 0.345-0.993, P = 0.04) and enamel defects (OR = 4.939, CI = 2.406-10.137, P < 0.001) were significant predictors of caries in this study. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of dental caries in this study was high. Oral hygiene and enamel defects were predictors of dental caries in the study population.