Research done in Kathmandu by MiRON

1. Dietary habits and dental caries status
in 12-13 years age group school
children in Kathmandu valley
Shakya P1, Acharya A1, K.C. U 1, Subedi B1, Jnawali M1, Paudyal BD1, Koirala S2 and
Singh A1
1 Central Department of Microbiology, Tribhuvan University (CDM-TU), Kirtipur,
Nepal
2 National Dental Hospital, Panipokhari, Kathmandu
Conducted under the technical and financial support of Nepal Dental Association 2008

2. Introduction
Dental caries
• multi-factorial disease
• prevalent and chronic oral diseases, common
in children.
• Diet one of the prime factors
• changing dietary habits
• Use of Epidemiological tools

3. Objective
• To assess the impact of diet on dental caries
status in children

4. Materials and methods
• Ethical approval
–NHRC,
–written consent from schools
and Guardians of the students

5. Materials and methods
• Study subjects
– 30 private and government schools
– Students of age group 12-13 years
• Study design
– Cross-sectional
• Free dental check ups for all participating
schools

6. Materials and methods
• Clinical examination
– WHO caries form
– Done by trained and calibrated volunteer dentist
– provided by Nepal Dental Association
– Cross check in each 5 students
– DMFT/DMFS was used as a standard tool
• Questionnaire survey
– semi-structured questionnaire
• Statistical Analysis
– Done by SPSS 16

8. Result
• Mean DMFS 1.60
• Prevalence 53.23 %
• Age
– 325 students of age group 12-13 years
– average age of 12 years 4 months
– high decayed teeth surfaces than other
component
• Gender
– Female (1.97) (60%)> Male (1.26) (47.06%)
– High decayed component

9. Result
Dietary habits D (SE) M (SE) F (SE) DMFS (SE) p-value
Chewing paan 2.07 (0.58) 0 0 2.07 (0.58) p=0.43
(n=14, 4.3%)
Beetles nut 0.68 (0.17) 0 0.03 (0.02) 0.70 (0.18) p=0.00
chewing (n=37,
11.4%)
No such habits 1.46 (0.13) 0.11 (0.06) 0.13 (0.06) 1.7 (0.16) p= 0.56
(n=274, 84.3%)
Chocolate (n, %)
Everyday (n=35, 2.23 (0.34) 0.11 (0.11) 0.11 (0.09) 2.46 (0.35) p= 0.02
10.8 %)
Weekly (n=65, 1.34 (0.3) 0 0 1.34 (0.27) p=0.34
20 %)
Monthly 1.33 (0.16) 0.13 (0.08) 0.17 (0.09) 1.64 (0.22) p=0.87
(n=187, 57.5 %)
Never (n=38, 1.05 (0.24) 0 0.03 (0.02) 1.08 (0.24) p=0.04
11.7 %)

10. Result
Sugar (n, %)
Everyday (n=30, 1.60 (0.31) 0 0 1.60 (0.31) p=1.00
9.2%)
Weekly (n=28, 8.6%) 1.21 (0.39) 0 0 1.21 (0.39) p=0.33
Monthly (n=252, 1.40 (0.14) 0.12 (0.06) 0.12 (0.07) 1.64 (0.18) p=0.82
77.5%)
Never (n=15, 4.6%) 1.27 (0.32) 0 0.40 (0.40) 1.67 (0. 43) p=0.88
Sour (n, %)
Everyday (n=28, 1.21 (0.23) 0.14 (0.14) 0.04 (0.03) 1.39 (0.25) p=0.41
8.6%)
Weekly (n=99, 1.10 (0.17) 0.05 (0.05) 0.04 (0.04) 1.19 (0.21) p=0.05
30.5%)
Monthly (n=180, 1.63 (0.18) 0.11 (0.08) 0.18 (0.09) 1.92 (0.23) p=0.16
55.4%)
Never (n=18, 5.5%) 1.00 (0.45) 0 0 1.00 (0.45) p=0.20
Veg/non-veg (n, %)
Veg (n=132, 40.6%) 2.04 (0.21) 0.11 (0.08) 0.05 (0.03) 2.19 (0.24) p= 0.012
Non-veg (n=193, 0.96 (0.13) 0.08 (0.06) 0.16 (0.09) 1.20 (0.17) p= 0.021
59.4%)

11. Discussion
• DMFS found below the recommended value
by WHO
• High prevalence, high decayed and untreated
teeth
• Indicates lack of awareness
• Can invite future complication

12. Discussion
• Female higher caries status and prevalence
than male
– Females more prone to caries
– early tooth eruption
– differences in dental attendances
– difference in dietary pattern
• Chewing paan high DMFS

13. Discussion
• Beetles nut chewing low dental caries
– Antibacterial properties
– Risk of developing fissures
– Lead to caries
• Chocolate no significant difference found
• Sugary foods
– High DMFS found in those who consumes every
day than those who never

14. Discussion
• sour foods consumption
– No significant difference found
• vegetarian / non-vegetarian
– High DMFS found in vegetarian than in non-
vegetarian
– Carbohydrate foods – acid production – metabolic
activity of cariogenic bacteria – decalcification
– In absence of fermentable carbohydrate,
putrefaction – alkaline pH – no decalcification

15. Discussion
• School
– important platform for promoting health
– reach to their family and community as a whole
– lifelong sustainable attitudes and skills

16. Limitation
• cross-sectional type of study
• lack of sufficient statistical power

17. Conclusion
• Low caries status, high prevalence
• Females more prone to caries
• Diet have important role in causation of caries
• Vegetarian have higher risk of caries

18. References
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19. Acknowledgement
• Nepal Dental Association
• Central Department of Microbiology, TU
• participating schools, students and their
guardians
• Volunteer dentists and enumerators
• Dr. Sudin Shakya and Dr. Sudhamshu KC
• Mr. Anil Thapa, Visiting lecturer CDM-TU