Chronic malnutrition, dental caries, and tooth exfoliation in Peruvian children aged 3-9 years.

A cross-sectional evaluation of dental caries in primary teeth and nutritional status was conducted involving 285 Peruvian children from low socioeconomic conditions aged 3-9 y. Forty-nine percent of the children were found to be chronically malnourished (stunted) whereas acute malnutrition (wasting) was infrequent (2%). Stunted children showed a delayed exfoliation of primary teeth. The caries prevalence curve as a function of age (ie, a plot of decayed, extracted, and filled teeth vs age) was found to be shifted to the right by approximately 15 mo in stunted children as compared with well-nourished children. Children aged 7-9 y with stunted growth showed a significantly higher percentage of carious teeth than did well-nourished children of the same age (40 and 29%, respectively; p less than 0.005). Nutritional deficits that lead to chronic malnutrition not only may affect tooth exfoliation but also appear to render the primary teeth more susceptible to caries attack later in life.