Evaluation of Oral Health Status among Children of Halba Tribe in Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh, India
Lumbini Pathivada, Saurav K Prabhat, Nishita Garg, Krishna M Karthik, Premkishore Kajapuram, Brij Kumar
Keywords :
Dental caries, Halba tribe, Oral health
Citation Information :
Pathivada L, Prabhat SK, Garg N, Karthik KM, Kajapuram P, Kumar B. Evaluation of Oral Health Status among Children of Halba Tribe in Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh, India. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2024; 17 (10):1121-1123.
Background: The Halba tribe owes its nomenclature term “Hal” which locally means plowing or farming. Bastariya Halba is Dravidian tribe from Warangal. They speak Indo-European language Halbi. There are no population-based studies till date evaluating the oral health status among Halba children in Chhattisgarh.
Aim: To evaluate the oral health status of Halba tribe children in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh by assessing the prevalence of dental caries and periodontal conditions.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the dental caries and periodontal status in Halba tribe children. Children aged between 6 and 12 years (N = 1,050) were randomly selected from Halba community of Chhattisgarh. Dental caries status was recorded by using the decayed missing filled teeth (DMFT/dmft) index and papillary marginal attached (PMA) index for periodontal status.
Statistical analysis: The statistical software namely Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 was used for the analysis of the data.
Results: The study population was 1,050 children from the Halba tribal community. Among the subjects, 545 (51.9%) were boys and 505 (48.1%) were girls. The overall mean dmft/DMFT was found to be 2.25 ± 2.71. In this study, boys had significantly higher values for overall dmft/DMFT (2.55 ± 2.74) than girls. It was observed that mild, moderate, and severe gingivitis significantly increased with increasing age.
Conclusion: The population examined was characterized by high prevalence of dental caries as well as unmet treatment needs. Factors like poverty, illiteracy, poor awareness, and lack of oral health services may be a reason for poor oral health in these children.
Kumar G, Tripathi RM, Dileep CL, et al. Assessment of oral health status and treatment needs of Santhal tribes of Dhanbad District, Jharkhand. J Int Soc Prev Community Dent 2016;6:338–343. DOI: 10.4103/2231-0762.186798
Petersen PE. Improvement of oral health in Africa in the 21st century—the role of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme. Develop Dent 2004;5:9–20.
Yadav P, Kaur B, Srivastava R, et al. Oral health disparities: review. J Dent Med Sci 2014;13:69–72. DOI: 10.9790/0853-13926972
Viragi PS, Dwijendra KS, Kathariya MD, et al. Dental health and treatment needs among children in a tribal community. J Contemp Dent Pract 2013;14(4):747–750. DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10024-1395
Soni PK, Varoda A, Mitra M. Ethonomedical practices among Gond & Halba tribe of Chhattisgarh, India. Int J Sci Res 2016:5(9):955–958.
Tribhuwan RD, Patil BD. Body Image Human Reproduction and Birth Control: Tribal Perspective. 2009.
Bharati S, Demarchi DA, Mukherji D, et al. Spatial patterns of anthropometric variation in India with reference to geographic, climatic, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. Ann Hum Biol 2005;32(4):407–444. DOI: 10.1080/03014460500097443
Fisher FJ. A field survey of dental caries, periodontal disease, and enamel defects in Tristan Da Cunha. Br Dent J 1968;125:447–453.
Bhasin V. Oral health behaviour among Bhils of Rajasthan. J Soc Sci 2004;8(1):1–5. DOI: 10.1080/09718923.2004.11892396
Vaish RP. Prevalence of caries among tribal school children in Phulbani district, Orissa. J Indian Dent Assoc 1983;55:455–457.
Vaish RP. Prevalence of caries among school-going tribal children in Ganjam district, Orissa. J Indian Dent Assoc 1982;54:375–377.
Chu CH, Fung DS, Lo EC. Dental caries status of preschool children in Hong Kong. Br Dent J 1999;187:616–620. DOI: 10.1038/sj.bdj.4800347
Jalili VP, Sidhu SS, Kharbanda OP. Status of dental caries and treatment needs in tribal children of Mandu (Central India). J Pierre Fauchard Acad 1993;7:7–15.
Nagaraja RG, Venkateswarlu M, Bhat KS. Oral health status of 500 school children of Udupi. J Indian Dent Assoc 1980;52:367–370.
Sahoo PK, Tewari A, Chawla HS, et al. Interrelationship between sugar and dental caries—a study in child population of Orissa. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent 1992;10:37–44.
Rao A, Sequeira SP, Peter S. Prevalence of dental caries among school children of Moodbidri. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent 1999;17:45–48.
Dasar PL. Dental caries status of tribal children in Javadhu Hills (Tamil Nadu). J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent 2011;9(18):718–721.
Kumar TS, Dagli RJ, Mathur A, et al. Oral health status and practices of dentate Bhil adult tribes of Southern Rajasthan, India. Int Dent J 2009;59(3):133–140.
Bhat M. Oral health status and treatment needs of a rural Indian fishing community. West Indian Med J 2008;57(4):414–417.
Mandal S, Ghosh C, Sarkar S, et al. Assessment of oral health status of Santal (tribal) children of West Bengal. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent 2015;33:44–47. DOI: 10.4103/0970-4388.148976