Abstract:
Background:- Dental caries is a progressive disease leading to destruction of the hard tissues of the
teeth. The rapidly changing disease patterns throughout the world are particularly linked to change in
life style which includes diets rich in sugar, wide spread use of tobacco and increased consumption of
alcohol. Caries and painful teeth may cause malnutrition in children due to difficulty in mastication. They
could even present a major aesthetic and psychological problem for some patients.
Objective:- To determine the prevalence of dental caries and to assess the relationship between dental
caries and its associated risk factors among Liben primary school students.
Methods:- A cross- sectional study will be conducted to determine prevalence of dental caries and its
associated risk factors among Liben primacy school students above 12 years old, Woliso town, South
West Shoa. The study was conducted on sample population of students who were selected by simple
random sampling technique from 1400 source population. The data will be collected by structured
question format through self administered questionnaire. The data will be processed, analyzed by
software. The results will be presented using numbers, graphs and tables. Different statistical tests like
P-value and chi square tests will be done to associate different variables.
Results;- A total of 272 subjects were participated in the study with male to female ratio of 1 to
1.34.There was a high prevalence of dental caries among the study subjects.Only 57% of them were
caries free.There is statistically significan association between dental caries and age,habit of tooth
cleaning,frequency of tooth cleaning,type of cleaning material,time of cleaning,consumption of sugared
foods,type of sugared containing food,frequency of consumption and students who rinse their mouth
after consumption of sugared food with a p-value of 0.001,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.000.001,0.001,0.000
respectively.
Conclusion and Recommendation:- The prevalence of dental caries among the study subjects was
high.Conducting proper sample sized study and initiating preventing activities such as promoting
awareness on oral health to the students were some of the recommendations.
