Chris Noel Timothy and Manjari Chaudhary*
Background: The use of radiographic methods to diagnose dental caries was based on the principle that as the caries precedes the mineral content of enamel and dentin decreases and is prone to the attenuation of the x - ray beam.
AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of dental caries using periapical radiographs.
MaterialsandMethods: This was a comparative, descriptive study, where all the data of the patients who reported to the dental clinics in Saveetha dental college, SIMATS, Chennai, India, was obtained from the Dental Information Archiving Software (DIAS). Patient records were collected between March 2020 and March 2021. Data was collected and tabulated. The collected data was further analyzed, recorded in Microsoft Excel software and was subjected to statistical analysis using IBM SPSS statistics analyzer v.23.0.
Results: The total sample size of the current study was 12617 cases. In this study, the data was analyzed for the presence of various carious lesions. Satisfactory results demonstrating the presence of carious lesions were obtained. The highest prevalence was seen in males and in the age group of 18 to 28 years. The most common type of dental caries was caries involving dental pulp. The most common site was the upper anterior region. Significant association was observed between the location and the type of caries, age and the type of caries and the gender and type of caries.
Conclusion:It was found that caries involving pulp were the most common dental caries diagnosed using periapical radiographs. It was also found that caries was more prevalent in males and in the age group of 18 to 28 years. This study will hopefully provide insight into the prevalence of dental caries and about periapical radiographs.
