Dental Caries and Associated Factors Among Patients Attending the University of Gondar Comprehensive Hospital Dental Clinic, North West Ethiopia: A Hospital-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Patients Attended University of Gondar Comprehensive Hospital Dental Clinic (n=368)

Variable		Number	Percent
Age (years)	<20	68	18.5
	20–29	137	37.2
	30–39	92	25.0
	40–49	26	7.1
	≥50	45	12.2
Gender	Male	188	51.1
	Female	180	48.9
Marital status	Single	169	45.9
	Married	184	50.0
	Divorced	15	4.1
Occupation	Farmer	54	14.7
	Student	128	34.8
	Governmental employee	68	18.5
	NGO-employee	9	2.4
	Merchant/Personal business	109	29.6
Religion	Orthodox	330	89.7
	Muslim	23	6.3
	Protestant	8	2.2
	Catholic	7	1.9
Residency	Urban	290	78.8
	Rural	78	21.2
Monthly income	≤2500 ETB	271	73.6
	>2500 ETB	97	26.4
Educational status	Has no Formal education	83	22.6
	Has formal education	285	77.4

Table 2 Oral Hygiene Habits and Practice of the Participants (Self-Reported)

The Habit of Tooth Brushing		Number	Percentage
Toothbrush	Yes	269	73.1
	No	99	26.9
Frequency of tooth brushing	≥3 times/day	4	1.5
	Twice/day	20	7.4
	Once/day	76	28.3
	Irregularly	169	62.8
Time of tooth brushing	Before bed	11	4.1
	Morning	117	43.5
	Both in the morning and before bed	27	10.0
	No fixed time	114	42.4
Material for tooth brushing	Mefakia (traditional stick)	131	48.7
	Toothbrush with paste	134	49.8
	Charcoal	4	1.5

Table 3 Carbohydrate Intake, Smoking and Presence of Other Chronic Medical Illness Among the Study Participants

		Frequency	Percentage
Carbohydrate consumption	Yes	273	74.2
	No	95	25.8
Type of carbohydrate taken	Candy	24	8.8
	Soft beverages	78	28.6
	Chewing gum	33	12.1
	Tea	112	41.0
	Others	26	9.5
Smoking habits	Yes	23	8.4
	No	337	91.6
Frequency of smoking	Sometimes	12	52.2
	Once/day	4	17.4
	3 times/day	4	17.4
	>3 times/day	3	13.0
Diabetic mellitus patient	Yes	22	5.9
	No	346	94.1
History of hypertension	Yes	11	3.0
	No	357	97.0

Table 4 Prevalence of Dental Caries Based on the Sociodemographic Characteristics and Other Factors

Variables		Dental Caries
		Yes No (%)	No No (%)	P value
Gender	Male	32(17.0)	156(83.0)	0.002
	Female	55(30.6)	125(69.4)
Age (years)	<20	16 (23.5)	52(76.5)	0.477
	20–29	32 (23.4)	105(76.6)
	30–39	27(29.3)	65(70.7)
	40–49	4 (15.4)	22 (84.6)
	≥50	8(17.8)	37(82.2)
Marital status	Single	36(21.3)	133(78.7)	0.033
	Married	51 (27.7)	133(72.3)
	Divorced	0 (0.0)	15(100)
Educational status	Has no formal education	27(32.5)	56(67.5)	0.061
	Has formal education	60(21.1)	225(78.9)
Occupation	Farmer	12(22.2)	42(77.8)	0.013
	Student	32(25.0)	96(75.0)
	Governmental employee	8(11.8)	60(88.2)
	NGO-employee	0(0)	9(100)
	Merchant/personal business	35(32.1)	74(67.9)
Religion	Orthodox	75(27.7)	255(77.3)	0.098
	Muslim	4(17.4)	19(82.6)
	Protestant	1(12.5)	7(87.5)
	Catholic	7(100)	0(0)
Residency	Urban	63(21.7)	227(78.3)	0.095
	Rural	24 (30.8)	54(69.2)
Monthly income	≤25,000 ETB	76(28.0)	195(72.0)	0.000
	> 2500 ETB	11(11.3)	86(88.7)
Tooth brushing habits	Yes	51(18.9)	218(81.1)	0.001
	No	36(36.4)	63(63.6)
Consumption of sugary foods	Yes	71(26.0)	202(74.0)	0.045
	No	16(16.8)	79(83.2)
Smoking habits	Yes	8(34.8)	15(65.2)	0.429
	No	63(23.0)	211(77.0)
Has Diabetic mellitus	Yes	15(68.2)	7(31.8)	0.000
	No	72(20.8)	274(79.2)
Hypertension history	Yes	5(45.5)	6(54.5)	0.049
	No	82(22.9)	275(77.1)
Halitosis	Yes	75(43.6)	97(54.4)	0.000
	No	12(6.1)	184(93.9)
Malocclusion	Yes	8(40.0)	12(60.0)	0.072
	No	79(22.7))	269(77.3)

Table 5 The Mean DMFT Scores Based on Sex, Residency and Monthly Income of the Participants

Characteristics		Permanent Dentition (DMFT)				Primary Dentition (dmft)
		Decayed	Missed	Filled	DMFT	Decayed	Missed	Filled	Dmft
Gender	Male	126	43	4	0.47	25	15	0	0.11
	Female	162	64	4	0.63	0	6	0	0.02
Residency	Urban	225	81	8	0.85	20	14	0	0.08
	Rural	63	26	0	0.24	5	7	0	0.05
Monthly income	≤2500ETB*	223	87	8	0.86	8	6	0	0.04
	>2500ETB*	65	20	0	0.23	17	15	0	0.09
		Mean DMFT			1.09±0.24	Mean dmft			.13

Note: *ETB: Ethiopian birr.

Table 6 Multivariate Analyses of Variables Associated with Dental Caries Among Patients Visited the Dental Clinic of the University of Gondar Comprehensive Hospital, Gondar, Ethiopia, 2019

Variables		Dental Caries		AOR (95% CI)	P-value
		No (%)	Yes (%)
Gender	Male	156 (82.9)	32 (17.1)	1	0.002
	Female	125 (69.4)	55(30.6)	2.15 (1.31 3.52)
Educational status	No formal education	56(66.7)	27 (33.3)	1.81(1.05,3.1)	0.036
	Has formal education	224(78.9)	60 (21.1)	1
Monthly income	≤2500 ETB	195(71.9)	76(28.1)	3.05(1.54, 6.02)	0.000
	>2500 ETB	86(88.7)	11(11.3)	1
Tooth brushing habits	Yes	218 (81.0)	51(19.0)	1	0.004
	No	63 (63.6)	36 (36.4)	2.44(95% CI: 1.46, 4.07,
Halitosis	Yes	97(57.7)	71(42.3)	10.98 (5.68, 21.24)	0.000
	No	180(93.8)	12(6.2)	1
History of DM	Yes	7(31.8)	15(68.2)	8.15(3.2, 20.75)	0.0001
	No	274 (79.2)	72(20.8)	1
History of HTN	Yes	6 (54.5)	5(45.5)	2.79(0.83, 9.39)	0.13
	No	275(77.0)	82(23)	1