Prevalence of early childhood caries and its related risk factors in preschoolers: Result from a cross sectional study in Vietnam

Abstract

BackgroundDental caries is one of the most common oral diseases in humans worldwide. The methods for diagnosis and treatment of this health issue have being improved. However, dental caries, especially early childhood caries (ECC), is still a serious health problem in developing countries such as Vietnam. MethodsTo identify the prevalence, severity and associated risk factors of ECC of 4 years old children in 19.5 Thai Nguyen kindergarten in Vietnam, a cross-sectional study of 369 4-year-old children was conducted. Each child was received an oral examination using DIAGNOdent pen for caries detection. Information about associated factors was collected by face-to-face interviewing of caregivers using a structured questionnaire. Multiple linear regression was used to determine risk factors of ECC. ResultsThe prevalence of ECC was 91.9% with a mean dmfs of 11.6 ± 13.3 (a mean dmft of 6.7 ± 4.7). Furthermore, 64% of the total children had severe ECC(S-ECC); 22.5% had enamel caries, 50.4% had deep enamel caries; and 77% had dentin caries. There were statistically significant associations between ECC and gender (p = 0.005), birth weight (p = 0.028), habit of dental visits (p = 0.015), age at start of brushing (p = 0.009), brushing before bed (p = 0.013), history of baby bottle (p < 0.001), and debris index (p < 0.001). ConclusionsThe data suggests that prevalence and severity of ECC in this group were very high. Gender, birth weight, habit of dental visits, age at start of brushing, brushing before bed, history of baby bottle, debris index were suggested as risk factors of ECC.