Prevalence of dental caries in Pakistan: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Ammar Ahmed Siddiqui, Freah Alshammary, Mushir Mulla, Saad M Al-Zubaidi, Eman Afroze, Junaid Amin, Salman Amin, Sameer Shaikh, Ahmed A Madfa, Mohammad Khursheed Alam
Author Information
Ammar Ahmed Siddiqui: Department of Community Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Bakhtawar Amin Medical and Dental College, Multan, Pakistan. Ammarqta2002@hotmail.com. ORCID
Freah Alshammary: Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Dentistry, University of Ha'il, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
Mushir Mulla: Department of Oral and Dental Health, College of Applied Health Sciences Arrass, Qassim University, Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
Saad M Al-Zubaidi: Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Ha'il, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
Eman Afroze: General Dental Practitioner, Private Clinic, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Junaid Amin: College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Ha'il, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
Salman Amin: College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
Sameer Shaikh: Department of Oral Diagnostics, College of Dentistry, University of Ha'il, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed A Madfa: Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Ha'il, Hail, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammad Khursheed Alam: Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Jouf University, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia.
BACKGROUND: Optimum oral health is impossible to achieve without managing dental caries. The first step to manage dental caries at a community level is to know its prevalence and trend. Unfortunately, the prevalence of dental caries at the national/regional level is not known in many developing countries. Pakistan is no exception. The present meta-analysis was planned to document the prevalence of dental caries at the national, as well as regional level. This paper will serve as a baseline for making future health policies, and health promotion activities in the country. METHODS: Literature was searched through various databases, such as PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of science using: "Prevalence", "Dental Caries", "Dental Decay" and "Severity" as keywords. Any study that reported the prevalence of dental caries, and was conducted in the Pakistani population was included. Thirty studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Quality assessment of all the included studies was performed using Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklist for prevalence studies. MedCalc software was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: In total 27,878 subjects were included in a meta-analysis from 30 studies. The prevalence estimate of dental caries at the national level was 56.62% (95% CI: 49.54 to 63.57). The I value was 99.07% (95% CI: 98.94 to 99.18), (I���>���75%) indicating heterogeneity, hence pooled proportion was reported using a random-effect model. The prevalence estimate of dental caries in Sindh was 58.946% (95% CI: 43.796 to 73.274), and in Punjab, it was 55.445% (95% CI: 44.174 to 66.44), whilst in Baluchistan and KPK combined was 51.168% (95% CI: 22.930 to 79.004). CONCLUSION: Based on the existing data nearly 60% of the Pakistani population have dental caries. The proportion is almost the same in all provinces. Most of the included studies were found to be of high risk.
