Jain Riya, Patil Snehal, Shivakumar K M, Srinivasan Samuel Raj
Department of Public Health Dentistry, School of Dental Sciences, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Deemed University, Karad, Maharashtra, India.
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Thaimoogambika Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Indian J Dent Res. 2018 Sep-Oct;29(5):568-574. doi: 10.4103/ijdr.IJDR_158_17.
Early childhood caries is a preventable disease of multifactorial etiology and is a public health problem affecting majority of the preschool-age children of the country. If left untreated, it has many social, economic, and nutritional implications and affects the quality of life of the affected child.
This cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 preschool children of Karad city, western Maharashtra, to assess the prevalence of dental caries among the preschool children and to assess the factors affecting the development of dental caries. Various child-level, parent-level, attitudinal- and family-level factors, and clinical variables were evaluated.
High prevalence of caries of 87.5% was observed in the study sample. Bivariate analysis showed a significant association of age of child (P < 0.001), age of mother at birth (P = 0.041), feeding during 1 year (P = 0.034), snacking habits (P = 0.001), and brushing frequency (P = 0.03) with dental caries. On multivariate analysis, the factors of snacking habits (P = 0.003) and age of child (P = 0.002) remained significantly correlated with dental caries.
There was a strong and consistent relation of the snacking habits with the prevalence of dental caries among the preschool children of Karad city. There is a need to sensitize the caregivers regarding the role of frequent snacking in dental caries.
幼儿龋齿是一种病因多因素且可预防的疾病，是一个影响该国大多数学龄前儿童的公共卫生问题。如果不加以治疗，它会产生许多社会、经济和营养方面的影响，并影响患病儿童的生活质量。
本横断面研究在马哈拉施特拉邦西部卡拉德市的200名学龄前儿童中进行，以评估学龄前儿童龋齿的患病率，并评估影响龋齿发展的因素。对各种儿童层面、家长层面、态度和家庭层面的因素以及临床变量进行了评估。
在研究样本中观察到龋齿患病率高达87.5%。双变量分析显示，儿童年龄（P < 0.001）、母亲生育时的年龄（P = 0.041）、1岁时的喂养方式（P = 0.034）、吃零食习惯（P = 0.001）和刷牙频率（P = 0.03）与龋齿有显著关联。多变量分析显示，吃零食习惯（P = 0.003）和儿童年龄（P = 0.002）这两个因素与龋齿仍有显著相关性。
在卡拉德市学龄前儿童中，吃零食习惯与龋齿患病率之间存在强烈且一致的关联。有必要让照顾者认识到频繁吃零食在龋齿形成中的作用。
