A Study on Oral Health Condition of Children in Angadwadi Centres of Amboli, Andheri (W), Mumbai.

In Mumbai city, theprevalence of dental caries

among 3 to 6 yrs. old preschool children is 42.5% to

69.75% which can be reduced by oral health

promotion strategies through education.

Aims:

To study the prevalence of Dental carries and

association of it’s with oral health education among

pre-school children in ambolimahatarpada slum,

Andheri west Mumbai district of Maharashtra state

in India.

Settings and Design:

A community-based cross-sectional study was

conducted in 6 Anganwadi centres selected using

multistage sampling technique for selecting 133

children in the age group of 3 to 6 years during Nov.

2019.

Methods and Material:

Children register prior to 3 months in Anganwadi

were selected and data collectionwasdone on the

google form.

Statistical analysis used:

Analysis wasdone on epi info and excel.

Results:

Prevalence of Dental carries among the study

population was 42.11% with Odds of developing

dental carries 1.20 times higher among female child

as compared to the male child (P=0.31).Odds of

developing dental caries was 0.51 times low among

children who brush their teeth before bedtime

(P=0.07), 2.02 times higher among child who used

adult toothpaste as compared to kid toothpaste for

brushing teeth (P=0.09), 0.70 times low among

children who washed their mouth with water after

eating sweet or anything regularly other than

brushing (P=0.17), 0.60 times low among children

whose parent supervise their child for brushing of

teeth (P=0.12) andAyurveda influencewas 1.81

times higher in the child with dental caries (P=0.07).

Conclusions:

Presence of dental carries was found higher among

those with unhealthy dental practices.A significant

association was found between the presence of

dental caries among children aged 3 to 6 years and

health education given by Anganwadi worker

(P<0.05).

Key-words:

Preschool, Oral health, Practicing healthy oral habit

Key Messages:

In urban areas of India, there is a need for the

National oral health programme (NOHP) for an

affordable, accessible and equitable oral health care

delivery in children.