Prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis in some endemically afflicted villages of district Doda, Jammu and Kashmir, India

A cross-sectional study was conducted among the residents of three villages of Doda district, J&K. A total of 391 individuals (202 males and 189 females) were examined from 60 households by house to house survey for recording the prevalence and severity of dental fluorosis by using Dean’s Index (1942) along with WHO health assessment form (1997b) and Community fluorosis Index. Of the total studied population 299 (76.47%) have found to be affected with various grades of dental fluorosis with moderate (33.5%) level of fluorosis to be the most frequent category observed. Prevalence of dental fluorosis was more in males (86.61%) than females (63.49%). No significant relation (P>0.05) between prevalence of dental fluorosis to the socioeconomic status was found. Community fluorosis Index was found to be 2.05 which denotes “marked” category of public health significance. High prevalence and high community fluorosis Index suggest that fluorosis is a major public health problem in the area