engleski

Evaluation of feeding and oral hygiene habits on early childhood caries in Croatia

AIM: Early childhood caries (ECC) is still a serious public health problem in Croatia. The aim of the present study was to assess effect of long-term breastfeeding/bottle feeding, longer than one year of age, and oral hygiene habits on the development of ECC. METHODS: The non randomized clinical study was conducted on 100 children aged 2-5 years, regular patients of the Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, Zagreb. Clinical examination was done according to WHO criteria and questionnaire related to important causing factors for ECC was completed by parents/guardians. Data analysis was performed using χ² and Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of ECC was 62%. The girls suffered more often from ECC (p=0.019). The results didn’t show a higher percentage of ECC among children breastfed for longer than one year, and even a small number of ECC were found among children breastfed for longer than two years. ECC has higher prevalence in children fed with a bottle during night comparing to children who didn’t use a bottle (p=0.009). Early dental visit significantly lowers the prevalence of ECC (p<0.001). Statistical significant correlation was found also between early beginning of teeth brushing (before 1 year of age) and caries free children or late development of first tooth decay (p=0.047). CONCLUSIONS: Long term bottle-feeding and the absence of regular beginning of teeth brushing, earlier than one year of age, are the main predisposing factors for ECC development.

eeding habits; early chilhood caries; oral hygiene

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