Primary incisor decay before age 4 as a risk factor for future dental caries.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether early childhood caries (ECC) is a risk factor for future dental caries. One hundred fifteen dental charts of children younger than 4 years of age when initially treated were reviewed and abstracted for primary incisor caries and age at the initial examination, gender, recall dental visits, sealants, and age at the last dental examination. In addition, the number of carious, extracted, and restored teeth (cert/CERT: primary/secondary) at the last examination was determined. Children with ECC at their initial examination (N = 58) had a 93.0% cert rate, a 67.2% CERT rate and a 60.3% CERT in first molars rate by their last dental examination. Non-ECC children at their initial examination (n = 57) had less than half the rate of each cert/CERT parameter (43.9%, 22.8%, and 26.3%, respectively) at their last dental visit. The odds ratios for each cert/CERT parameter posed by ECC status were 17.3 for cert, 7.0 for CERT, and 4.3 for CERT in first molars. When these odds were adjusted for other study parameters by a forward step-wise logistic regression analysis, ECC status continued to be a risk factor for each cert/CERT parameter. We conclude that 1) early childhood caries is a risk factor for future caries, 2) increased age is a risk factor for CERT, and 3) recalls and sealants are protective factors.