Severe early childhood caries and behavioral risk factors among 3-year-old children in Lithuania

Eglė Slabšinskienė, Simona Milčiuvienė, Julija Narbutaitė, Ingrida Vasiliauskienė, Vilija Andruškevičienė, Eglė-Aida Bendoraitienė, Kristina Saldūnaitė

Department of Oral Health and Pediatric Dentistry, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Key words: severe early childhood caries; dmft; toothbrushing, breast-feeding; behavioral risk factors.

Summary. The objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and severity of early childhood caries (ECC) and severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) in 3-year-old Lithuanian children. The impact of selected behavioral risk factors on the development of S-ECC was investigated.

Material and methods. A total of 950 children were examined in kindergartens. Diagnosis of dental caries followed the WHO criteria. Questionnaires were delivered to mothers of the children with S-ECC and caries-free children. The questions were related to the children’s dietary habits, temperament, oral hygiene, and the use of fluoride toothpaste.

Results. The prevalence of ECC was 50.6% with a mean dmft of 2.1 (SD, 0.1) and a mean dmfs of 3.4 (SD, 0.2). The prevalence of S-ECC was 6.5% with a mean dmft of 7.8 (SD, 0.1) and dmfs of 18.1 (SD, 0.6). A significantly higher percentage of children developed S-ECC when they were breast-fed for a period longer than one year, were sleeping with a bottle containing carbohydrates during the night, or were allowed to sip from a bottle either going to sleep or during the day. A significantly higher percentage of mothers having caries-free children knew about risk factors of S-ECC and started tooth brushing after the eruption of the first tooth. There was no significant difference between the groups regarding the use of fluoride toothpaste.

Conclusions. Improper infant bottle-feeding habits and no tooth brushing were found to be significant for the development of S-ECC among 3-year-old Lithuanian children.

Correspondence to E. Slabšinskienė, Department of Oral Health and Pediatric Dentistry, Kaunas University of Medicine, J. Lukšos-Daumanto 6, 50106 Kaunas, Lithuania. E-mail: egleslabsinskiene@yahoo.com

Received 15 June 2008, accepted 5 February 2010