Analysis of dental caries & gingivitis with the occurrence of stunting in children in Makassar city (Tamalanrea subdistrict)

Introduction: Stunting is one form of undernutrition that is measured based on the 2005 WHO standard deviation. Stunting can be assessed by measuring height and age of H / A according to the WHO child growth standard i.e if the z-score of H / A <-2 SD. Dental caries is a decay process that occurs due to the process of dissolving tooth surface minerals and continues to develop go to the inner layer of tooth. Gingivitis is an inflammatory reaction from gingiva. Stunting can affect caries due to internal factors and external factors. Stunting does not affect the occurrence of gingivitis if nutrition is improved. Objective: Find incidence of dental caries and gingivitis with stunting in children in Makassar city (Tamalanrea district). Materials and Method: Observational analytic approach (cross-sectional study). Samples were selected from secondary data of tamalanrea health center as many as 208 people, each 104 people in the stunting and normal nutrition groups as a comparison. Results: Based on the results of the study the average def-t index in normal children was 5.37 while in stunting children was 7.37. From this data it can be seen that the def-t index in stunting children is higher than in normal children whereas gingivitis in normal children is 0.0% and stunting is 0.0%. Conclusion: There is a relationship between stunting with the level of dental caries in children and there is no gingivitis in both stuntingand normal children in Tamalanrea Health Center, Tamalanrea District, Makassar City.