The specific purpose of this study was to determine the comprehensive oral health status and treatment requirement of (3-5) years old pre-school children using a standardised WHO format and to achieve a base line data for program planners. 1806, 3-5 years old children were drawn from 26 pre-schools in Bangalore city using a multistage simple random sampling technique and were assessed for eight oral parameters. The study showed dental caries, malocclusion and enamel defects were the most common condition (41.53%, 24.09%, 14.55% respectively). Other parameter were not prevalent enough to be a public health problem. The treatment requirements of the above conditions were not met. Concluding, oral health care facilities need to be improved, school health education need to be stressed and the political will be needs to be shown for a National oral Health Policy.

Objective: The aim of the present study is to test the efficacy of eight commercially available tooth pastes in the Indian market. Methods: The efficacy of tooth pastes was assessed by plaque score of 400 school children aged between 13-15 years old selected from V.P.S. public school, Dharwad. The design of the study is a double blind, randomised clinical trial. The baseline plaque scores of all the subjects were made zero by scaling and polishing. The subjects were randomly issued eight brands of toothpastes, fifty in each brand. The brand name was covered by white paint. The students were given similar instructions of brushing with a standardised toothbrush. The study subjects were followed for 3-4 weeks after issuing toothpastes. In the follow up examination, the plaque scores of 343 available school children was assessed using Turesky Gilmore Glickman modification of Quigly - Hein plaque index. Results: None of the tooth pastes showed zero plaque score but when compared among the eight brands, the mean plaque scores are for Forhans - 1.182414, Closeup Gel - 1.282221, Promise - 1.3130181, Cibaca - 1.33091, Babool - 1.377479, Pepsodent-G - 1.410789, Vicco - 1.428493 and for Colgate Gel - 1.448874. The results of the study showed highest mean plaque core of 1.448874 for Colgate Gel to and lowest of 1.182424 for Forhans. Statistical analysis showed significant difference between Forhans to Babool, Pepsodent, Colgate gel at 1 % and to Vicco at 5% level of significance. Closeup gel showed significant differences with Colgate gel at 1 % level of significance. Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is the efficacy of reducing plaque was highest in Forhans and least with the Colgate gel.

A comprehensive oral health survey was conducted in east coastal areas of Chennai. The objectives of this study were to assess the oral health status of the people, to facilitate planning and evaluation of oral health programs. Multi stage stratified samples of all ages were selected from 4 areas of east coastal road. A total of 1170 subjects were examined which constitutes 1.3% of the total population and using WHO 1997 "Oral health survey proforma" oral health information were collected. The results of the study showed that dental caries prevalence in primary dentition was 63.2% and mean dft was 2. In the permanent dentition it was 74.8% with mean DMFT of 4.5. The mean OHI-S score was 2.31 The prevalence of periodontal changes was 74.8%. Only 25% of subjects of East coast area were free from periodontal diseases. Loss of attachment of more than 4mm affected 13% of subjects. The total edentulous subjects were 0.4%. The percentage of fluorosis in various grades was 5.6% and developmental defects of enamel were only 0.3% of the subjects. Extra oral lesions occurred only in 0.8% of the subjects. TMJ symptoms occurred in 9.1 % of the subjects. The various dental treatment needs are as follows:

1. 34.7% subjects required one surface filling
2. 27.7% subjects needed 2 surfaces filling
3. 0.8% subjects needed crown
4. 9.7% needed pulp care
5. 24.3% needed extraction of teeth
6. 56.3% needed cleaning of teeth