Background: Oral diseases are still a major problem in most developing countries. Dental caries is one of the most common forms of oral disease frequently resulting in loss of the affected teeth. In Western communities active caries is seen predominantly in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. Within Nigeria, there remain areas where few or no studies have been done on the oral health status. Despite the fact that dental caries can be prevented and managed, it is still a major health problem affecting mankind, in that its manifestations persist throughout life in spite of treatment. There are practically no geographic areas in the world whose inhabitants do not exhibit some evidence of dental caries. It affects persons of both genders in all races, all socioeconomic strata and every age group. Objectives: To assess the prevalence and severity of dental caries and PUFA Index of school children (11 – 14years old); evaluate the oral health practices pattern of the study population and to provide useful data for the planning of oral health services in this region. Design: Descriptive analytical study Setting: School children (11 – 14years old) in Ungogo Local Government, Kano state, Nigeria Subjects/Methods: Questionnaires on demographic variables and oral hygiene practices were administered to a total of 294 randomly selected school children in the age groups 11 – 14 years and then examined by the researcher for dental caries (DMFT) and the PUFA index which records the presence of severely decayed teeth with visible pulpal involvement (P / p), ulceration caused by dislocated tooth fragments (U / u), fistula (F / f) and abscess (A / a). The four schools in the study were randomly selected from the 15 junior secondary schools in the rural and peri-urban locations in the setting. Results: Caries was diagnosed in 254 (86.4%) of the 294 school children. The total mean DMFT for the 294 children was 2.42 ± 1.53. The mean DMFT for boys was 2.35 ± 1.33 and for girls it was 2.54 ± 0.86. There was a general increase in mean DMFT with age. Caries was most prevalent on first molars (46.7%) and it was also observed more in the mandibular molars (69.8%). The decayed component constituted the main part of the DMFT scores. The overall caries prevalence was 82% while the overall PUFA ratio of 61% and ninety-nine percent of these lesions were untreated Conclusion: The respondents had a poor knowledge of oral health, oral diseases and their causes, though the majority had a positive attitude concerning oral health care and rarely visited dentist. However, the overall knowledge of foods related oral diseases was good. Within the limitations of the study, the overall caries prevalence in the study population was high. Notwithstanding, ages11, 12 and 13 constitute the ages at greater risk. PUFA defines the various clinical stages and their different associations with health conditions. Presenting data based on the PUFA index may provide health planners with relevant information, which is complementary to the DMFT. This was an opportunity to validate the new PUFA index under field conditions in school children (11 -14years) in a low-income population in Ungogo local government of Kano state, with a population suffering from a high burden of untreated caries. This study indicates that preventive oral health measures should be implemented on the younger age groups in order to control dental caries.

TITLE - Dental Caries and PUFA Index in Children Age 11 – 14 Years in Ungogo Local Government Area, Kano State, Nigeria
AUTHOR - Dr Sani Balarabe Auwalu
••••••IJSER Edition - December 2016

UNIVERSITY - National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria
GUIDE NAME -
Dr. Mrs. Juliana Taiwo
Dr. Rafael Adebola