Abstract

Background:
Dental caries is a major public health problem worldwide and the commonest dental problem affecting children. It impacts on their daily activities such as play, sleep, eating and school activity. This study aimed at assessing and comparing the prevalence and factors associated with dental caries occurrence among rural and urban public primary school pupils in Niger state, North-central Nigeria.
Methods:
The study was a school based comparative cross-sectional study in which multistage sampling technique was used for sample collection. Data was collected from a total of 600 rural and urban public primary school pupils aged 8–12 years using structured, pretested, interviewer administered questionnaire and oral examination following WHO criteria for Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT/dmft) index. Data was entered into the computer and analyzed using SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics was done. Chi-square test was used to determine associations between categorical variables. Predictors of dental caries occurrence in pupils were determined using logistic regression. Level of significance was set at 5%.
Results:
Three hundred (300) rural and 300 urban pupils participated in the study. Rural pupils were significantly younger than urban pupils (p<0.001). The mean age of rural pupils was 10.05±1.42 while that of urban pupils was 10.66±1.31 years. More rural 158 (52.7%) compared to urban pupils 141 (47%) were girls. A significantly higher number of rural 88 (29.3%) than urban 32
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(10.7%) pupils were found in the lowest wealth quintile (p<0.05). The prevalence of dental caries was significantly higher among rural 266 (88.7%) compared to urban pupils 240 (80.0%), p= 0.003. The mean DMFT score and standard deviation obtained from the oral examination for the rural pupils (0.89 ± 0.32) was significantly higher than that of the urban pupils (0.82 ± 0.38), p=0.021. Urban pupils were significantly more knowledgeable about dental caries compared to rural pupils (p<0.05) and a slightly higher proportion of urban 13 (4.3%) than rural 7 (2.3%) pupils were taught teeth care by their school teachers (p>0.05). Rural pupils were significantly less likely than urban pupils to brush daily (p<0.001). On bivariate analysis, rural pupils who ate biscuits and drank zobo were significantly more likely to have dental caries, compared to urban pupils (p<0.05). The adjusted odds ratio showed that urban Moslem pupils were four times more likely to have dental caries than Christian pupils [OR 4.466 (95% CI 1.192-16.734)] . The adjusted odds ratio done among the rural pupils showed no predictor of dental caries. However in both the rural and urban pupils, being less than ten years of age [OR 1.793 (95% CI 1.083-2.968)] , belonging to the Nupe ethnic group [OR 3.399 (95% CI 1.374-8.413)] and not cleaning the teeth everyday [OR 4.890 (95% CI 1.096-21.831)] were independent predictors of dental caries.
Conclusion:
Dental caries was significantly more among rural than urban public primary school pupils. Interventions to prevent dental caries should aim at health education and close supervision of oral hygiene measures practiced by pupils as well as regular monitoring of sugared snacks and drinks sold in school tuck shops by the school management.

RURAL-URBAN COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS FOR DENTAL CARIES AMONG PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN LAVUN AND BIDA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF NIGER STATE