Thakib A Alshalan, Khulood Bahkali, Rana Alshagroud.
Relationship between passive smoking and dental caries in primary teeth among pre-school children in Riyadh city.
J Pak Dent Assoc Jan ;15(4):177-81.

OBJECTIVE: To study the relationship between dental caries in the primary teeth and passive smoking on a sample of pre-school children in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS & METHODS: Four schools were randomly selected. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of 23 items were distributed to all the students in every school to be answered by the child`s parents (N=400). Children who had the questionnaire returned underwent dental examination using WHO criteria. RESULT: A total of 187 questionnaires were returned (the response rate was 46.75%) from the parents of children aged four to six years. The percentages of male and female children in the study were 48.1% and 51.9 respectively. Results showed that the DMFT for children exposed and not exposed to passive smoking is 5.75 and 5.86 respectively. 42.8% (N=80) of the children had frequent exposure to smoking by their relatives. Statistical analysis showed no relationship between passive smoking and the occurrence of dental caries in primary teeth. CONCLUSION: Within the limitation of the study, it can be concluded that there is no relationship between passive smoking and caries in primary teeth.

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