Dental caries is an important Dental public Health problem. Its high morbidity potential has brought this disease into the focus of dental health professionals. The purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence of dental caries and treatment needs among 5 and 12 years old school children of urban Pondicherry. The study population consisted of 2022 school children of both the sexes, (1009, 5-year-old children) and (1013, 12-year-old children). A simple random sampling method was used to select the schools. Dental caries was assessed by Dentition Status and Treatment Needs described by WHO (1997). The prevalence of dental caries was 44.4% in 5 years age group with 47.4% for males (mean dmft = 1.91 +/- 2.64 S.D.) and 41.1% for females (mean dmft = 1.45 +/- 2.18 S.D.). In 12 years age group the prevalence of dental caries was 22.3% with 20.6% for males (mean DMFT = 0.40 +/- 0.94 S.D.) and 24.1% for females (mean DMFT = 0.55 +/- 1.15 S.D). Evaluation of treatment needs revealed that the greatest need was for one surface restorations followed by two or more surface restorations. It may be concluded that FDI/WHO Oral Health Goals for the year 2000 have been achieved for the ages 5-6 and 12 years in Pondicherry.

Tooth transposition is a rare developmental anomaly of the teeth characterized by positional interchange of permanent tooth leading to disintegration in the alignment in the affected segment, shifting of midline and malocclusion of teeth. This article reports a rare case of Mn.12.C anomaly affecting right mandibular arch of a (11 year old) female child causing shifting of midline and crowding.

Tuberculosis can affect any part of the body and oral cavity remains no exception. The oral lesions of tuberculosis, though not common, are seen in various forms. The purpose of this article is to emphasize the importance of early diagnosis of primary tuberculosis of the mouth, which may be misdiagnosed when the oral lesions are the sole manifestation of the disease.

The study was carried out to establish the prevalence of Nursing Caries and its relation and caustive factors in children aged 18 to 60 months coming to Health Care Center weighing more than 2.5 kg. A total of 544 children (314 boys and 230 girls) were included in this study. The prevalence of Nursing Caries in girls was 23.5%, in boys 16.5% and in both sexes 19.5%. In affected children dmft was 3.8 times more than the unaffected children and DMFT of their mothers was higher too. Bottle feeding specially during sleep showed statistically significant increase in nursing caries and so did the duration of feeding with mother's milk. The results agree with those obtained in similar populations and showed that the prevalence of nursing caries is anxiously high.

A case report of neonatal teeth in a 4 month old male infant with ulceration on ventral surface of the tongue and its conservative management, is presented.

Soya infant formulas are essential for infants intolerant to cow's milk. Soya formulas contains glucose syrup or maltodextrins instead of Lactose, which has led to concern that they are potentially more cariogenic than standard infant formulas containing lactose. The study was conducted to compare the acidogenic effect of Soya Infant formula, infant formula and bovine milk. The study group consisted of 75 children in the age group of 7-10 years. The plaque pH was measured using plaque pH meter, before and after rinsing with different samples for sixty minutes Soya infant formula is found to be more acidogenic than infant formula (with lactose) and bovine milk. This study demonstrates high caries inducing potential of Soya infant formula. Further awareness of the possible role of Soya infant formula in early childhood caries is required.

The occurrence of supernumerary teeth and fusion of two teeth is not a very rare findings but the fusion of two supernumeraries especially in primary is very rare. Reported here, is a case of three supernumerary teeth present in the same region, out of which two of them were fused with each other. Since the interference with the normal eruption of the permanent successor was anticipated, the fused supernumeraries were extracted.

Supernumerary teeth are the extra teeth which may have either erupted or unerupted in addition to normal dentition and are seen both in deciduous as well as permanent dentition. The incidence of supernumerary teeth shows more frequent occurrence in permanent dentition than deciduous dentition, affecting both the sexes. The etiology of supernumerary teeth is still unknown and not well understood, but thought to be the result from disturbance during the initiation and proliferation stages of tooth development. In the present study an attempt has been made to asses, its prevalence in deciduous and mixed dentition phase.

Acute thrombocytopenic purpura is the most common of thrombocytopenias of the childhood. Clinical features include petechial lesions on oral mucosa, gingival bleeding and occasionally hemorrhage. A case of acute thrombocytopenic purpura is presented.