Psychosocial and behavioral issues in early childhood caries

Abstract

Rampant caries in infants and young children has long been recognized as a clinical syndrome referred to by various names, including nursing caries, nursing bottle syndrome, night bottle mouth, and baby bottle tooth decay. The common theme among these terms is the perceived central role of inappropriate use of the baby bottle in the etiology and progression of carious lesions. Use of the baby bottle is not the only, and may not be the most important, factor in caries development. Because of questions about the role of the baby bottle in caries among young children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently suggested that the term for this clinical syndrome be replaced with early childhood caries (ECC). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the literature on the influence of psychosocial and behavioral factors in early childhood caries. Prevalence of caries and maxillary anterior decay varies greatly in developed and undeveloped countries and among socioeconomic groups in developed countries. However, relatively little is known about the onset and progression of the disease or the antecedents of ECC, such as high risk behaviors, cultural norms, health beliefs and attitudes, or health care delivery factors. Furthermore, studies that do exist are limited by small and possibly biased samples and a lack of clear case definition. Future research should aim to develop a clear case definition of ECC, differentiate patterns of caries and conduct community-based epidemiological studies in order to obtain accurate estimates of the etiology and epidemiology of ECC in the general population, as well as in high risk groups.

Condições de saúde bucal de crianças na faixa etária pré-escolar, residentes em áreas de abrangência do Programa Saúde da Família em Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

“…Os resultados desse estudo igualmente revelam a elevada ocorrência de problemas de saúde bucal nas crianças estudadas, a maioria preveníveis e controláveis, tais como a cárie dentária, as alterações gengivais e as maloclusões, os quais podem interferir negativamente no desenvolvimento físico e emocional dos pré-escolares acometidos. 28 Para controlá-los e minimizá-los são possam contribuir a melhoria da condição de saúde bucal nesse grupo.…”

Cárie precoce: influência de variáveis sócio-comportamentais e do locus de controle da saúde em um grupo de crianças de Araraquara, São Paulo, Brasil

“…Considera-se que a classe social pode influenciar o risco à cárie de vá-rias formas: indivíduos de nível sócio-econô-mico inferior têm desvantagens sociais e materiais que influenciam a habitação, a habilidade para prover adequada nutrição e emprego estável 26 , além de comprometer sua habilidade em preocupar-se consigo mesmo, obter cuidado por parte de profissionais de saúde e viver em ambiente saudável 27 . Ressaltando, ainda, que todos esses fatores conduzem a uma resistência reduzida às doenças bucais entre outras enfermidades 28 .…”

“…Embora o uso inadequado da mamadeira seja o fator relacionado, com maior freqüência, à cárie precoce 38 , não existe consenso absoluto sobre essa ligação, uma vez que muitos estudos demonstraram que nem sempre o uso de mamadeira com leite ou outra substância causou cárie 26 .…”

Role of Mothers in Prevention of Dental Caries: A Systematic Review

“…Usually the pattern of sugar consumption increases during the first two years of children life and various research studies conducted on feeding habits and sugar intake among children established the fact that it promotes early childhood caries (ECC). However it has been reported in few research studies that actually it is the interplay of multiple factors which is found to be associated with ECC and it remains controversial finding [42][43][44]. The frequent intake of sugary snacks has also been associated with ECC [45,46].…”