Talha M Siddiqui, Aisha Wali, Mortaza Azimi, Tawoos Salehi, Sohaib Mahmood Siddiqui.
Socioeconomic Status and Dental Caries: Exploring the Relation in patients Visiting Dental Teaching Hospital, Karachi.
J Pak Dent Assoc Jan ;28(1):27-32.

OBJECTIVE:The objective of the present study was to assess the relationship between socioeconomic status and Dental caries in patients attending Out Patient Department of Baqai Dental College. METHODOLOGY:A cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Oral Diagnosis, Baqai Dental College from 26th April 2017 to17th December. A structured questionnaire was developed and demographic profile, socioeconomic status, residence and decayed teeth were recorded. Data was analyzed for frequency and percentages of different variables and chi- square test was used to check for association between the variables by using IBM SPSS version 22. RESULTS:The present study reported that out of 327 patients, 189(57.8%) belonged to rural area with an average monthly income. One hundred and twenty six (38.5%) of patients with an average monthly income, and 24(42.1%) from low monthly income, each reported only one decayed teeth. CONCLUSION:The present study reported an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and dental caries. The number of patients from low socioeconomic status showed less number of decayed teeth. KEY WORDS:Dental caries, income, socioeconomic status, teaching hospital.

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