Dental Caries Prevalence and BMI Before and After COVID-19 Lockdown of The Schools Among School Children Aged 6–13-Year-Old in Tikrit City (A Comparative Study)

Hussein, Azhar Ammash; Abdulazeez, Maha Isam; Alnuamy, Shefaa H.

doi:10.25130/tjds.13.1.2

	Dental Caries Prevalence and BMI Before and After COVID-19 Lockdown of The Schools Among School Children Aged 6–13-Year-Old in Tikrit City (A Comparative Study)
Tikrit Journal for Dental Sciences
Volume 13, Issue 1, June 2025, Pages 10-17 PDF (318.83 K)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.25130/tjds.13.1.2
Authors
Azhar Ammash Hussein^* ¹; Maha Isam Abdulazeez^* ¹; Shefaa H. Alnuamy²
¹Department of Pedodontics, Orthodontics and Prevention, College of Dentistry, Tikrit University, Tikrit, Iraq
²College of Dentistry, AL-Israa university college, Iraq
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has been correlating with many changes in the maintenance of children's dental health. This may be due to the emergency lockdown of school and physical activity which affected the lifestyles and eating habits of the children. The aim: to investigate the prevalence of dental caries and the changing in the BMI before and after the pandemic among school children. Method: a total sample of 455 healthy children aged 6-13 years attended to the preventive department in dental college of Tikrit university. The data from 236 children were collected before COVID-19 and 219 children after COVID-19. Dental caries was registered according to WHO criteria, 1987 were decayed, missing, and filled with permanent dentition (DMFS) and deciduous teeth (dmfs). Height and weight for each child was registered to get the BMI-for- age. Result: For the total sample, the mean value of dmfs, DMFs and BMI were significantly higher after COVID-19 than before COVID-19. Regarding the boys, the mean value of dmfs, DMFs and BMI were significantly higher after the pandemic than before COVID19. For the girls, the mean value of dmfs and DMFs were significantly higher after COVID-19 than before COVID-19 while the mean value of BMI was non - significantly higher after COVID-19 than before COVID-19. Conclusion: A significant number of children altered their eating, drinking, and brushing habits during the lockdown, which raised their risk of tooth decay.
Keywords
Covid-19 Pandemic; dental caries; Lifestyle; lockdown

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