ASSESSMENT OF DENTAL CARIES USING CAST INDEX AMONG SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN OF AGE 12-15 YEARS IN KHAMMAM, TELANGANA STATE. A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: Man has been afflicted by dental caries since time immemorial. Epidemiological studies have revealed that dental caries is the most prevalent chronic disease in pediatric community and is still a major health problem in most industrialized countries as it affects 60-90% of school aged children and vast majority of adults. CAST Index covers the whole spectrum of dental caries starting from sound tooth up to eventual tooth loss. Aim: To assess the prevalence of dental caries using CAST index in 12 to 15 years of school going children. Material and Methods:A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among school going children of age 12-15 years old in Khammam city, Telangana state, India.Out of 12 Government schools and 78 Private schools in all the four regions (North, South, East, West) of Khammam city, randomly eight schools (4 private and 4 government schools) from four regions (1 private and 1 government school from each region) have been selected by a lottery method. Finally from each selected school, every odd roll number child between 12-15 years, were enrolled to reach a sample size of 452. Caries was recorded using the CAST Index. Each child was clinically examined by a trained examiner using CAST Index. Data was entered in Microsoft excel sheet 2007 and descriptive statistics done using SPSS software. Results: A total of 452 children were examined and the overall prevalence of dental caries was found to be 41.81% with highest in the age group of 14 years (46.15%) followed by 12 years (41.44%), 13 years (40%) and 15 years (39.45%). Conclusion: CAST Index presents a simple hierarchical structure of caries spectrum and is a promising index for epidemiological studies and has introduced a new paradigm by reassessing the pathogenesis of dental caries