Dental Caries in University Students

Abstract

Dental surgeons from occidental countries, plagued with the problem of dental caries, have been impressed by its low incidence in Ceylon, especially among the rural population (Hoffman, 1963). The incidence of dental caries in Ceylon, though low, is still problematic. Its differential incidence in different segments of the population—a fact that has been noted by every clinician—suggests that the study of dental caries in this country would be a fruitful one. Considerable research on the subject has been conducted in occidental countries and the fluoride content of water has been identified as an important causative factor. (American Dental Association, 1950; Adler, 1951; Atonsky, 1951; Mackenzie, 1952; Mc Kay, 1953; Dean, 1954). Research connected with dental caries is, today, more or less limited to the survey type of study (Day and Sedwick, 1935; Klein and Palmer, 1940; Blackerby, 1943; Burnett, i960; Hoffman, 1963), and is generally based on one of two separate but inter-related procedures. One is directed towards the elimination or reduction of hazards to dental health or lessening of the consequences of such hazards; the other to the% determination of the administrative efficiency in the application of the means selected for attaining the goals of a program. Such studies consist in the main of correlations of caries prevalence with such characteristics as age, sex, nationality, nutritional habits and the like and present us with a composite picture of the situation in a given place and at a given time. In Ceylon, no such studies have been undertaken. This cannot be because dental caries failed to make the necessary impact on those concerned with the subject, for studies dealing with dental caries have been undertaken but they have been limited to the examination of the diet and life habits of individuals with a view to finding out peculiarities of individuals in the Ceylon scene, which could conceivably account for the relative absence of caries. This paper is the result of a survey of the prevalence of dental caries in students admitted to the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, in 1962. Its overall plan has been based on the study made by Burnett (i960) in Edinburgh and like it, this study too has been restricted to University students who are ideal for such a study because they constitute a group more or less representative of the country, concentrated in one spot