Prolonged nursing habit: a profile of patients and their families.

No association of the prolonged nursing-habit with the family background was found with the exception of predominantly lower socioeconomic conditions. All subjects demonstrated prolonged bottle-feeding or breast-feeding. Milk was reported to be the liquid most often used in the bottle. Parents reported that they did not know when weaning should occur, and when oral hygiene should be instituted. The nearly symmetrical caries pattern, the teeth most often affected and the order in which they are attacked and destroyed are conditions which are similar to those described in earlier studies.