Published on February 12, 2020
Ahmedabad: What can teeth reveal about a person? A lot — if the examiner is a dentist or a forensic odontologist. A study conducted by a researcher from Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (GFSU), claimed that the dental growth, one of the parameters of a child’s overall well-being, was found to be worrisome in two Gujarat cities under study — Ahmedabad and Surat.
Dr Jayasankar Pillai, a faculty of oral pathology at Government Dental Hospital and student at Gujarat Forensic Sciences Univesity (GFSU), in his study on oral hygiene and dental growth in Gujarat, mentioned that 22% of the children covered had milk teeth. Students from Ahmedabad were having deciduous (milk) teeth at 20.56% followed by Banaskantha (17.36%). Compared to that, students in tribal districts of Chhota Udepur and Dangs had 10% or less students had milk teeth, said researchers.
“We also took the BMI values of the students and found that 72% of the children were ‘underweight’ having BMI of less than 18.5 kg/ m2. While dental growth is not the only criteria to understand a complex issue of malnutrition, it could surely be an indicator,” said Dr Pillai. Dr Rajesh Babu, associate professor at GFSU and guide to Dr Pillai’s study, said that several national and international studies have pointed at the correlation between teething and nutrition.
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