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Background:
Oral diseases such as dental caries, periodontal diseases are still major public health problems
worldwide, but more in developing countries. In context with Nepal, due to a lack of researches and
evidence in this field, a baseline data regarding the occurrence of oral diseases has been seen to be
necessary in order to plan any community oriented preventive programmes.
Aim and Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the pattern of distribution of oral diseases
among children aged 1 year to 14 years visiting the Pedodontics Department of College of Dental
Sciences, Nepal Medical College.
Material and Method:
This cross sectional study was carried out among 392 children (215 males 177 females) visiting Dental
college with oral problems within a time period of 6 months from January 2013 to July 2013. All
the new patients reporting to the Department of Pedodontics and Preventive dentistry were enrolled
in the study. Patients were divided into two age groups, group 1: From 1 year to 6 years for primary
dentition and group 2: From 7 to 14 years for mixed dentition (122 in group 1 and 270 in group 2).
All the patients were examined in the dental OPD. All the positive findings like dental caries,
dentoalveolar abscess and malocclusion were recorded. The oral diseases that they presented with
were subdivided into supernumerary teeth, enamel defects, trauma, herpetic gingivitis, and routine
dental check up with investigations were carried out for the required cases.
Results: The results of this study showed that 80.6% of the children showed presence of dental
caries, 18.4% had dentoalveolar abscess, 22.4% of the children presented with tooth mobility as
their chief complaint and 7.9% complained of malocclusion as their problem. 8.2% of the children
visited the hospital with other oral problems like supernumerary teeth, enamel defects, trauma, and
herpetic gingivitis, out of which maximum (3.1%) reported with trauma. The study also showed that
amongst the total children, 1-6 years old children had more dental caries (85.2%) and dentoalveolar
abscess (30.3%) than older children. Pearson’s chi square test showed that the caries relation was non
significant but abscess was significantly different between the two groups of children.
Conclusion: Dental caries was the most predominant disease in the children followed by dentoalveolar
abscess. Oral health promotion and planning programs directed towards the oral health should be
conducted at regular intervals.

Children, dental caries, dentoalveolar abscess, oral diseases