Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) and factors leading to it among 71 months of age children or younger in Karachi, Pakistan. ECC is a preventable chronic disease affecting infants and children worldwide. The early detection of ECC can reduce pain and life threatening conditions and help growth and development of infant and children. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Karachi, Pakistan. About 650 mothers of children (71 months of age or younger) were randomly selected and interviewed using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The dental examination was performed by the dentist, who was calibrated against a standard examiner using World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. The data was entered and analysed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 16 software. ECC was found in 23.5% of children with mean decayed missing and filled teeth (dmft) of 0.67. The factors identified were age of the child, mother educational and occupational status, sweetened drink consumption at night and not utilizing routine dental health care services. This study concluded that high proportion of ECC was found among children (71 months of age children or younger) and factors identified were all preventable and needs attention to promote dental health education and routine dental visits. Key words: Early childhood caries (ECC), mothers, risk factors, children 6 to 71 months of age.
Highlights
Childhood caries (ECC) is a major public health challenge worldwide
The selected households were visited and the child (71 months of age or younger) age was examined for the presence of early childhood caries (ECC) and the mother interviewed through administering a questionnaire
This study reported prevalence of ECC (23.5%) which is consistent with the findings of research studies conducted in Iran and India (Askarizadeh and Siyonat, 2004; Mahjabeen et al, 2006)
Summary
Childhood caries (ECC) is a major public health challenge worldwide. ECC is defined as caries on primary incisors, at least one (the number of maxillary incisors ranges from 1 to 4 teeth) in the pre-school aged children (Milnes, 1996; Jose and King, 2003; Ismail and Sohn, 1999). Primary upper incisors are affected with white spots on gingival margin and later in advance stage, crowns are destroyed. It is important for parents and caretakers to recognize first clinical sign of ECC soon after the eruption of primary upper incisors
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