Social and behavioural determinants of early childhood caries

Abstract

Background: To investigate the association between selected social and behavioural (infant feeding and preventive dental practices) variables and the presence of early childhood caries in preschool children within the north Brisbane region. Methods: A cross sectional sample of 2515 children aged four to five years were examined in a preschool setting using prevalence (percentage with caries) and severity (dmft) indices. A self-administered questionnaire obtained information regarding selected social and behavioural variables. The data were modelled using multiple logistic regression analysis at the 5 per cent level of significance. Results: The final explanatory model for caries presence in four to five year old children included the variables breast feeding from three to six months of age (OR=0.7, CI=0.5, 1.0), sleeping with the bottle (OR=1.9, CI=1.5, 2.4), sipping from the bottle (OR=1.6, CI=1.2, 2.0), ethnicity other than Caucasian (OR=1.9, CI=1.4, 2.5), annual family income $20,000-$35,000 (OR=1.7, CI=1.3, 2.3) and annual family income less than $20,000 (OR=2.1, CI=1.5, 2.8).Conclusions: A statistical model for early childhood caries in preschool children within the north Brisbane region has been constructed using selected social and behavioural determinants. Epidemiological data can be used for improved public oral health service planning and resource allocation within the region.Key words: Early childhood caries, epidemiology, preschool children, social factors, behavioural factors.(Accepted for publication 18 June 2002.) Researchers have attempted to expand basic microbiological models for ECC development to include various social, demographic and behavioural factors such as ethnicity, family income, maternal education level, family status, tooth brushing habits and parental knowledge and beliefs.2,3 Although the predictive power of the variables studied was inconsistent, the high disease experience within selected community groups reflects the importance of factors other than the presence of Mutans streptococci alone in contributing to ECC development. Other crosssectional models demonstrate the complex interaction between socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity, immigrant status, infant feeding, fluoride exposure, oral hygiene and ECC presence in preschool children. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] However, because most studies of ECC have been conducted among specific ethnic, immigrant and lower socio-economic communities, extrapolation of current risk assessment models to the general population is problematic. The collective and individual effect of these factors in determining ECC presence has not been reported previously in an Australian child population.Recent epidemiological data of ECC confirm that the disease is prevalent among disadvantaged children from lower socio-economic, immigrant and indigenous community groups within the non-fluoridated north Brisbane region. 11,14,15 However, relatively little information is known about those social and behavioural risk factors that contrib...

Assessment of Contributing Factors in Early Childhood Caries Among Rural Population of Sullia Taluk.

“…Most of children have started brushing at age 1 (50.7%) and 45.3% started at 2nd year and only 4% at 6 months. These finding are in agreement with the study conducted on Australian children [11] Night time bottle feeding with juice, repeated use of a no spill cup and frequent consumption of sugar in between meals containing snacks or drinks increases the risk of caries.…”

Avaliação da participação de mães em um programa de prevenção e controle de cáries e doenças periodontais para lactentes

“…There is a close relationship between health level and cultural and socioeconomic disadvantage, and it was observed that caries affects mainly children from families of less favored social classes, with lower education level and greater difficulty in accessing education in health care (7)(8)(9) . To prevent the development of caries in infants, there is a need to implement programs aimed at promoting health in early childhood (6) , because it was demonstrated that there was an important decrease in caries incidence among groups of children benefited from preventive programs (10)(11)(12)(13) .…”

Cárie dentária em crianças de 5 anos: fatores sociodemográficos, lócus de controle e atitudes parentais

“…A diversidade de resultados talvez se deva à idade dos sujeitos, a diferenças metodológicas, mas, principalmente, a ações preventivas e de planejamento de ações odontológicas muito diversas nas cidades em que se realizaram as pesquisas. Em Paulínia 9 e em outras cidades do interior paulista 46 ocorrem levantamentos epidemiológicos de rotina para diagnosticar as condições de saúde bucal das populações, contribuindo para um planejamento mais direcionado dos serviços de saúde 9,47 , assim como há monitoramento contínuo das condições bucais das crianças. Segundo Baldani et al 48 , para facilitar o monitoramento e a adesão aos programas de atenção em saúde bucal, tanto curativos, preventivos como educativos, eles precisam ocorrer em contextos que atendam crianças pequenas, como na Estratégia de Saúde da Família -ESF, nos centros de saúde, onde vão para as consultas de Puericultura e nas creches e pré-escolas.…”