A child's sleeping habit as a cause of nursing caries.

A survey was conducted to determine the relationship between infant bottle drinking patterns and "nursing caries". The sleeping habits of the child, the contents of the bottle, the age at which the child was weaned from the bottle, and the age at which toothbrushing commenced were evaluated. Information was obtained through a parental questionnaire and a clinical examination. The results indicate that children who fell asleep while feeding from the bottle had significantly more cases of "nursing caries" than did children who discarded the bottle before falling asleep. Children who discarded the bottle before falling asleep, however, had significantly more cases of "nursing caries" than did children who were not given the bottle at all at bedtime. All other factors were not significant in increasing or decreasing the incidence of "nursing caries".