Patterns of breast and bottle feeding and their association with dental caries in 1- to 4-year-old South African children. 1. Dental caries prevalence and experience.

In order to study associations between breast and bottle feeding and dental caries a questionnaire on feeding habits was completed by trained interviewers for 1,263 children aged 1 to 4 years from five South African communities. Of these, 73 to 94 per cent had been breast fed for mean periods of 9 to 16 months. The types of infant feeding practised (breast, bottle or mixed) varied little within the groups although each group differed significantly from the others for the preferred feeding practice. Using responses to a dietary interview the children were subdivided into those breast fed for 12 months or longer (n = 546), those who had mixed breast and bottle feeding (n = 527) and those who were bottle fed only (n = 190). Caries prevalence increased with the age of the child, more in bottle fed than other groups. Within all feeding groups caries prevalence was lowest among white children and in social class I. The dmfs and dmft scores showed irregular patterns and were significantly influenced by feeding group and the interaction between race and social class.