Anupama Deepak, Jayashri Prabakar, M. Jeevitha. Prevalence And Severity Of Dental Caries And Oral Hygiene Status Among The 35-40 Years Old Adult Population Attending A Private Dental College- A Hospital Based Cross Sectional Study. Int J Dentistry Oral Sci. 2020;7(12):1247-1251 1247 OPEN ACCESS https://scidoc.org/IJDOS.php Prevalence And Severity Of Dental Caries And Oral Hygiene Status Among The 35-40 Years Old Adult Population Attending A Private Dental College- A Hospital Based Cross Sectional Study Research Article Anupama Deepak 1 , Jayashri Prabakar 2* , M. Jeevitha 3 1 Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India. 2 Senior Lecturer, Department Of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sci- ences, Saveetha University, Chennai, 600077, India. 3 Senior Lecturer, Department of Periodontics, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, 600077, India. International Journal of Dentistry and Oral Science (IJDOS) ISSN: 2377-8075 *Corresponding Author: Jayashri Prabakar, Senior Lecturer, Department Of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chen- nai, 600077, India. Tel: +91 9841788803 E-mail: jayashri.sdc@saveetha.com Received: November 10, 2020 Accepted: December 15, 2020 Published: December 18, 2020 Citation: Anupama Deepak, Jayashri Prabakar, M. Jeevitha. Prevalence And Severity Of Dental Caries And Oral Hygiene Status Among The 35-40 Years Old Adult Population Attending A Private Dental College- A Hospital Based Cross Sectional Study. Int J Dentistry Oral Sci. 2020;7(12):1247-1251. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19070/2377-8075-20000246 Copyright: Jayashri Prabakar © 2020. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Dental caries, also referred to as tooth decay or cavities, are one of the most common and widespread diseases today. Dental car- ies is a multifactorial infections disease characterised by deminer- alisation of inorganic substances. Poor oral health can lead to the formation of dental caries [1]. Prevalence of dental caries is gen- erally associated with poor oral maintenance affecting the qual- ity of life [2]. Dental caries incidence is commonly seen around the middle age group having 3 peaks: coronal decay of primary and permanent dentition and root decay [3]. WHO studies have shown the epidemiological signifcance and the severity of dental caries in oral health [4]. It is believed that this disease has high prevalence worldwide. During the years, there is an increase in reports of dental caries, resulting in the emerging public health issues that are related to the prevalence in the dental caries [5]. It is found to be common among the low socioeconomic groups, children and new immigrants [6]. Dental caries are more common in children than in the adults in the form of early childhood caries, probably due to the improper bottle feeding and poor oral hygiene. Preventive measures for this are the pit and fssure sealants used in both children and adults wherein they form resin tags [7-9]. Dental neglect is one of the Abstract Dental caries is one of the most infectious diseases worldwide. Dental caries also referred to as tooth decay is a multifactorial dis- ease characterized by demineralisation of inorganic substance of the tooth. Progression of dental caries was directly proportional to the poor oral health maintenance. Poor oral health affects the individuals identity resulting in low confdence levels. Among the older age individuals, dental caries were more common, due to poor oral maintenance and dental neglect. Dental neglect is the main reason for caries at an older age, due to poor socioeconomic status, lifestyle etc. The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and severity of dental caries and oral hygiene status among the 35-40 years adult population attending a private dental college. This was a record based study with a sample size of 701, irrespective of the gender. This study was conducted in a university setting in Saveetha Dental College, Chennai. Data was collected from a case sheet record. The data was then categorised according to their age groups, gender, DMFT index values and OHIS index values. The coding was done in MS Excel Sheets. Results were then carried out using IBM SPSS Version 20.0 followed by the tabulation and graphical illustration. Independent t-test was used to compare the mean DMFT and OHI score with age and gender respectively. The results revealed that females (7.80 ± 3.88) were more prone for caries than the males (6.53± 3.46) with high prevalence was found among the 38-40 years age group. In conclusion, dental caries were highly prevalent among females with a mean value of 7.8 and commonly among the age group 38-40 years. Keywords: Dental Caries; DMFT Index; OHIS Index; Oral Hygiene.