Comparison of Caries Experience of Asthmatic and Non-Asthmatic Children in Enugu, Nigeria

Author Info

Linda Oge Okoye David I. Okoye Chidimma J. Michael Osa-eloka C. Ekwueme Benneth T. Amaechi

Corresponding Author

Linda Oge Okoye
Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria

A B S T R A C T

Background: Asthma and dental caries are two most common chronic diseases among children. The aim of the present study was to determine and compare the dental caries experience between asthmatic and nonasthmatic children in Enugu. Methods: 120 asthmatic children who had been diagnosed of asthma for at least 1 year were selected and matched for age 2-17 years with 120 non-asthmatic controls. Prevalence of caries was assessed using the decayed, missing, and filled surfaces (dfs for deciduous teeth and DMFS for permanent teeth) index through clinical examination by two calibrated dentists according to WHO guidelines. Information on various confounding factors were collected through questionnaires and patients’ medical records. Results: Asthmatic children had significantly higher (P<0.000) caries experience on primary teeth (dfs was 2.02±0.18 for 2-6 years-old and dfs was 2.46±0.68 for 7-12 years-old) and permanent teeth (DMFS was 1.86±1.12 for 7-12 years-old and DMFS is 1.84±1.22 for 13-17 years-old). Asthmatic children did not differ significantly from their non-asthmatic counterparts with respect to gender, dietary habits, oral hygiene, time since last dental visit and parents’ education. Conclusion: Children with asthma have higher caries experience than their non-asthmatic counterparts in this study. Reasons for this difference are multifactorial necessitating the need for special multidisciplinary oral health preventive program for these high-caries-risk children.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Tue 07, Jul 2020
Accepted: Tue 11, Aug 2020
Published: Fri 21, Aug 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Linda Oge Okoye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.JDOA.2020.02.03