Abstract
Background: The high prevalence of dental caries among preschool children had been reported in literature. However, studies on dental caries and related problems among infants and toddlers in Saudi Arabia are lacking. Aim: This study assessed the oral health status of the infants and toddlers in the Iskan Primary Health Care (PHC) Center for the National Guard in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Settings and Design: The assessment included 151 children between the ages of 5 to 36 months during 2015 to 2016. Materials and Methods: The caregivers were provided with a structured questionnaire. Oral examinations on the children were based on the WHO’s assessment form and criteria. Statistical Analysis: Frequency, mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis were used for the risk assessment of the caries. Results: Dental caries was reported in 9% of the children in the Center, and 95.5% of them were categorized as severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). More than half of the children were bottle-fed. About 70% of the caregivers never cleaned their children’s mouth. The caries among the children was highly associated with bottle-feeding during their sleep. Conclusions: Nocturnal bottle-feeding, failure to clean the children’s mouths, and the use of cleaning materials other than toothpaste were identified as the risk factors that promoted the development of caries among the children. With these findings, we recommend that the mothers and the medical professionals should be trained on necessary oral health practices. Early preventive dental health services within the National Guard health services should be initiated.
Highlights
The most commonly diagnosed oral disease in young children is dental caries, which is often associated with poor oral hygiene practices. [1,2] Early childhood caries (ECC) is a major health concern among preschool children, which has serious impacts on their physiological development, mental health, and their quality life. [3,4] The WHO considers dental caries as the third most prevalent chronic disease and as a global pandemic.[5]
[12] According to the WHO, the prevalence of dental caries among children in Saudi Arabia is moderate to high, [13] with the significantly high levels observed in some regions. [14,15] meta-analysis in KSA showed a higher prevalence of caries in deciduous teeth, compared to that in the permanent teeth, [16] no studies yet was reported about the prevalence of caries in infants and toddlers
Our study reports for the first time that the incidence of dental trauma among infants and toddlers, aged 5–36 months old, in Saudi Arabia was found to be relatively low at 1% and was This difference, compared to those from previous works, is effected by the setting of the trauma, as most reported dental traumatic injuries tended to happen among children in schools. [33]
Summary
The most commonly diagnosed oral disease in young children is dental caries, which is often associated with poor oral hygiene practices. [1,2] Early childhood caries (ECC) is a major health concern among preschool children, which has serious impacts on their physiological development, mental health, and their quality life. [3,4] The WHO considers dental caries as the third most prevalent chronic disease and as a global pandemic.[5]. [19,20] So, parents must be educated about preventive oral health, including the importance of early and regular dental visits, proper feeding and oral hygiene practices, and right diets. [22,24,25] The educational background and the low socioeconomic status of the parents had been linked to poor oral hygiene and the prevalence of dental caries in children. There are very few studies in Saudi Arabia that dealt with the levels of the knowledge and perceptions of parents about the oral health of their young children. We designed our study to assess the oral health status of the National Guard (NG) infants and toddlers, in addition to the evaluation on the attitudes and perceptions of the parents towards oral health practices on their young children. The knowledge gained from the children of the NG will facilitate the design and implementation of preventive oral health programs that are geared towards the oral health education of parents across the Saudi regions
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