Citation: Radhey Shyam et al (2021). Prevalence of Dental Caries in 11-14 Years Old School Children in Endemic Fluoride Areas of Haryana, India. Saudi J Oral Dent Res, 6(2): 105-108. 105 Saudi Journal of Oral and Dental Research Abbreviated Key Title: Saudi J Oral Dent Res ISSN 2518-1300 (Print) |ISSN 2518-1297 (Online) Scholars Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Journal homepage: https://saudijournals.com Original Research Article Prevalence of Dental Caries in 11-14 Years Old School Children in Endemic Fluoride Areas of Haryana, India Radhey Shyam 1 , Manjunath BC 2 , Adarsh Kumar 3 , Vipul Yadav 4 , Mansi Mendiratta 5* , Madhavi Wig 6 1 Senior Resident, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Pt. B.D Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India 2 Senior Professor and Head, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India 3 Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India 4 Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India 5 Postgraduate student, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India 6 Postgraduate student, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India DOI: 10.36348/sjodr.2021.v06i02.005 | Received: 08.02.2021 | Accepted: 22.02.2021 | Published: 24.02.2021 *Corresponding author: Dr. Mansi Mendiratta Abstract Background: Dental caries remains public health problem worldwide. It may develop in an early stage of life as soon as teeth erupt. Dental caries exhibits diminishing trends in most of the developed countries, but still increasing trends seen in many developing countries. Aim: To assess the prevalence of dental caries in 11-14years old school children in endemic fluoride areas of Haryana, India. Materials and methods: This study was a part of a cross sectional descriptive study which was conducted among 2200 school children of 11-14 years old age in endemic fluoride areas of Haryana, India. After obtaining the data from central ground water board, Haryana, 3 districts were selected using cluster random sampling out of 14 endemic fluoride districts. Dental examination was carried out by a single trained investigator. Socio- demographic details of children were recorded and WHO basic oral health assessment criteria for children modified (2013) was used for assessment of dental caries. The data were entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS 18 package for relevant statistical comparison. Results: In the present study 997 (45.3%) were males and 54.7% were females. Caries prevalence was reported to be 19% among the study subjects. Mean DMFT was found to be (0.27±0.70). Conclusion: The present study revealed that the prevalence of dental caries and DMFT was low among children. The reason behind this may be due to high concentration of fluoride in drinking water in those areas. Key words: Dental caries, school children, endemic areas. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s): This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use provided the original author and source are credited. INTRODUCTION Dental caries, despite availability of many preventive and treatment measure, remains public health problem worldwide. It is mainly found in the low socioeconomic groups. It may develop in an early stage of life as soon as teeth erupt. Dental caries manifests clinically as a course of action from initial visual change in enamel to frank cavitations extending to dentin and dental pulp [1]. If it is not treated in time, it may progress to more severe stages which lead to pain, difficulty in mastication and poor oral health. Although it is not a life threatening diseases, but due to its wide spread that affects school children result in social, psychological problems and other sever complications affecting oral health quality of life of school children. This burden of dental diseases also imposes financial problems on their families [2, 3]. Dental caries pattern exhibiting diminishing trends in most of the developed countries, but still increasing trends seen in many developing countries and is reported to be as high as 70% [4]. This may be due to availability of various preventable measures lie fluoride varnishes, APF gel and pit and fissure sealants it shows decreasing trends in most of developed world. The impact is far worse in developing countries, like India, where the prevalence of dental caries ranges from 30%–65% making it the most prevalent chronic disease among schoolchildren [5]. Various prevalence studies may be helpful in designing effective preventive and treatment strategies peoples who are at higher risk. There is lack of data