Prevalence of dental fluorosis among primary school children in rural areas of Karera Block, Madhya Pradesh.

OBJECTIVE: To determine prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis in school going children of ten villages of Karera block of Shivpuri District, Madhya Pradesh. METHODS: Fluoride ion concentration was measured in ten hand pump and two wells waters with a fluoride meter (ORION model 720). For the study total 750 school children were selected from ten government primary schools of ten rural villages. The survey was conducted during the period of November 2007 through December 2009. The dental and oral examination was done by two trained dentists. The occurrence and severity of dental fluorosis was recorded using Dean's index. RESULTS: Drinking water sources considered for study were hand pumps, and wells. Out of 750 children surveyed, 341 were found affected with dental fluorosis. The boys had greater prevalence (46.75%) as compared to girls (42.18%). Dental fluorosis, as assessed by Dean's Index shows that 20.8% children had grade I, 19.47% grade II, 5.2% grade III. Overall, 45.46% of the sample showed some grades of dental fluorosis. CONCLUSIONS: In all the 144 water samples from ten villages fluoride level was higher than permissible limits. The boys had greater prevalence of dental fluorosis over the girls.