Prevalence of Early Childhood Caries in South Africa: Protocol for a Systematic Review (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Young children are at the highest risk of developing dental caries as they at high risk for dental caries as they have a lack of autonomy over their diet and oral hygiene practices. Dental caries develops over time due to demineralization of tooth substance (enamel) resulting from acid production of bacterial metabolism from sugars. Early-onset of dental caries often results in asymptomatic presentation, but if left untreated, it can result in severe pain, infection and dentoalveolar abscesses. Early childhood caries (ECC) is defined as dental caries in children aged six years and younger and is a significant public health problem in South Africa. According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, untreated dental caries of primary teeth affects 532 million children. Untreated dental caries has many detrimental effects which can affect the physical development and reduce the quality of life of affected children. Furthermore, long term untreated dental caries can result in school absenteeism, low BMI and poor educational outcomes. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence and severity of ECC in South Africa in children under 6 years of age. METHODS All cross-sectional documenting the prevalence and severity of dental disease (decayed, missing and filled teeth scores) will be included. Various databases will be searched for eligible studies, and those included will be done by using prespecified inclusion criteria. Only studies conducted on South African children who are aged 6 years and under, will be included. There will be no restriction on the time nor language of publication. The quality of all eligible studies will be analyzed by a risk of bias tool developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. The results will be presented narratively, and if possible, a meta-analysis will be conducted. RESULTS The protocol is registered with PROSPERO. The literature search was conducted in November 2018 and was repeated in November 2020. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study will be used to advise stakeholders of the prevalence and severity of dental disease in children less than 6 years of age in South Africa.