ORIGINAL ARTICLE In Vivo Assessment of Plaque Accumulation for Caries Risk in Children C Nagarathna 1 , N Aishwarya 2 A BSTRACT Introduction: Most approaches to caries viewed that catastrophic change in normal plaque bioflm is responsible for the disease. The behavior and the composition of the bioflm are a refection of the oral environment, and the caries is a refection of the adverse changes occurring in that environment. Thus, it is important to identify the plaque bioflm so as to predict the caries risk. Aim: The present study was aimed to determine and compare the role of plaque toward caries risk during their mixed dentition. Materials and methods: Fifty children of 6–12 years age group of both sexes were examined for plaque status of subjects using “Turesky– Gilmore–Glickman modifcation of the Quigley Hein plaque index” and caries using deft and decayed missing flled index (DMFT) separately and caries risk assessment tool (CAT). Statistical analysis: The data were collected and tabulated and were analyzed using the SPSS software V.22, IBM., Corp. Descriptive analysis of all study variables was done using the number and the frequency for categorical data whereas in terms of mean and standard deviation for continuous data. Results: The high caries risk group demonstrates signifcantly a higher mean plaque index (PI) score (p = 0.04) and mean dental caries score (p = 0.03) compared to the low and the moderate caries risk group. Conclusion: The present study sample consists of a higher proportion (44%) of the high caries risk group which necessitates oral health promotion specifcally adopting the common risk factor approach. Keywords: Caries, Caries risk assessment, Dental plaque. Journal of Health Sciences & Research (2019): 10.5005/jp-journals-10042-1077 I NTRODUCTION Dental caries is a multifactorial disease. Factors like the type of diet, oral hygiene practices, use of fuoride, dental visits, socioeconomic status, and other preventive measures modify the prevalence of caries 1 and it is still considered a public health problem resulting in a negative impact on the quality of life among children. Dental plaque is a soft deposit that forms the biofilm adhering to the tooth surface or other hard surfaces in the oral cavity, including removable and fxed restorations. 1 Antoni van Leeuwenkoek observed it frst in the seventeenth century and was associated with all of the most common oral diseases: caries and periodontal disease. 2 There are 108 bacteria present in 1 mm 3 of dental plaque weighing approximately 1 mg. 3 The composition and the behavior of the biofilm are the refection of the oral environment, and the caries is a refection of the adverse changes occurring in that environment. It is important to identify the plaque bioflm so as to predict the caries risk. The frst step in caries management is caries risk assessment (CRA). 4 Risk assessment is defned as the identifcation of factors known or believed to be associated with a condition or disease for purposes of further diagnosis, prevention, or treatment. 5 At the end of CRA, we will come to know the history and current clinical data of the patient. By eliminating the risk factors before disease occurs, the disease process can be prevented in the immediate future as well as in long term. Early detection and lesion progression of caries are important, particularly in primary teeth where caries can progress rapidly. Studies have focused on the use of visual ranked scoring systems, the DIAGNOdent laser fuorescence instrument, CarieScan PRO, and, to a lesser extent, digital radiography. The available literature concerning plaque for the detection of caries in primary teeth is limited. Considering these facts, the present study was done to determine and compare the role of plaque toward caries risk during their mixed dentition. M ATERIALS AND M ETHODS Source of the Data A study population of 50 children aged 6–12 years of both genders registered for dental care at the Department of Pediatric Dentistry was randomly selected for this study. Selection Criteria Inclusion Criteria • Healthy children who had not used mouth rinses or any medication for the past 6 months that might have infuenced their oral hygiene condition. 1,2 Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, RajaRajeswari Dental College and Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Corresponding Author: N Aishwarya, Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, RajaRajeswari Dental College and Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Phone: +91 8553460059, e-mail: aishupalms60@gmail.com How to cite this article: Nagarathna C, Aishwarya N. In Vivo Assessment of Plaque Accumulation for Caries Risk in Children. J Health Sci Res 2019;10(1):7–10. Source of support: Nil Confict of interest: None © The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and non-commercial reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.