Background: Dental caries is believed a leading public health dilemma worldwide owing to its high incidence and considerable social impact. Mostly females have higher score of DMF (decayed, missing and filled) than the same age of males. Females are considered pillars of the society because they have to train future children. Hence there is great need to provide knowledge to the females regarding dental caries and oral hygiene, who are entering in family generation phase, as by boosting oral hygiene most prevalent disease i.e. dental caries could be prevented. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to find out frequency distribution of dental caries among female college students and to assess the practices regarding oral hygiene and dental caries. Method: It was cross-sectional descriptive study in which 80 female college students were included. Data was collected through questionnaire, which was entered into computer using SPSS 17.0. Results: Among 80 female college students, 80.0% were 19-22 years old, 50.0% cleaned their teeth once a day and 100.0% used toothbrush. 65.0% studentsÂ’ toothpaste contained fluoride. Among students 52.5% had no decayed and 82.5% had 0 missed tooth and 50.0% had 0 filled tooth. The mean DMFT score was 2.30. Conclusion: Large number of students brushed their teeth once or twice daily. Overall oral health of female students was found satisfactory.
Key words: Caries, oral hygiene, DMF, females, Lahore.
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