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BackgroundWith rapid urbanization in China, an increasing number of rural adults have migrated to cities to seek job opportunities, leaving their school-aged children behind. These left-behind children (LBC) without one or both parents usually receive less attention from their caregivers. Whether the parental migration affects the children’s oral health is not well understood. This study aimed to explore the differences in dental caries status and oral health-related behaviors between children with different parental migration experiences in a rural area of Southern China.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Luchuan County of Guangxi Province in 2015. A total of 1085 school children aged 8–12 participated in this study. Participants’ demographic characteristics, parental migration information, and eating and oral hygiene habits were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Dental caries of permanent teeth was examined using the decayed, missing, and filled tooth (DMFT) index recommended by the World Health Organization. Dental caries experience and oral health-related behaviors were compared between LBC and non-LBC, as well as children with different experiences of parental migrations. The impact of various parental migration attributes on LBC oral health outcomes was examined by univariate and multivariate analyses.ResultsAmong the school-aged children examined, 60.9% of them were LBC. Only 29.7% of the children brushed their teeth regularly; 86.5% of them did not know what fluoride toothpaste was. Caries prevalence was 51.4% for LBC and 40.8% for non-LBC (p < 0.001). The LBC experienced a greater DMFT mean (1.20 ± 1.59) compared to the non-LBC (0.85 ± 1.30) (p < 0.001). Oral health-related behaviors were not significantly different between LBC and non-LBC. Dental caries experience and oral health-related behaviors were not related to the type or duration of parental migration. Multiple regression analyses showed that parental migration was one of significant predictors of children’s caries outcome; LBC had a higher risk to caries than non-LBC (95% CI =1.26, 2.09).ConclusionsThese findings indicate that parental migration could be a significant risk factor for caries development among 8- to 12-year-old school children in rural China.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12903-018-0683-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A 7-year 10-month-old boy was evaluated for mouth breathing and snoring habits. Examination revealed soft convex tissues, maxillary protrusion, mandibular retrusion, and a class II sagittal osteofascial pattern. The patient failed a water holding test. He was clinically diagnosed with skeletal class II malocclusion caused by mouth breathing. Under interceptive guidance of occlusion (iGo), the malocclusion improved with fixed maxillary expansion using functional appliances and interventional treatment of mouth breathing by lip closure exercises. These treatments enabled the patient to gradually return to nasal breathing and guided him to develop physiological occlusion for a coordinated jaw-to-jaw relation. At the 5-year 2-month post-correction follow-up visit (at the age of 13 years), the patient had stable occlusion, a coordinated osteofascial pattern, and normal dentition, periodontium, and temporomandibular joints.

Background To evaluate the therapeutic effect of maxillary pad movable appliance combined with FR-III functional appliance in treating skeletal Class III malocclusion of deciduous teeth and provide a reference for optimizing clinical treatment methods. Methods A total of 30 pediatric patients were randomly selected between April 2012 and April 2019. They were in stage IIA osseous skeletal Class III malocclusion, treated with maxillary pad movable appliance to relieve the reverse, combined with FR-III functional appliance to maintain a median relationship to stage IIIA. A self-control study of children before and after treatment was used, and paired t-test was used to evaluate the changes in the measurement indexes of the IIA and IIIA stage X-rays and changes in the bone and soft tissue profiles. Results After 3 years of treatment, SNA, ANB, and NA-PA in the sagittal osteofacial index of the jawbones increased, SNB decreased, and the Y-axis angle in the vertical index of the jawbones increased. U1-SN, U1-NA, U1-NA distance, L1-MP, L1-NB, and L1-NB distance in the index of labial inclination of upper and lower central incisors increased, while U1-L1 decreased. The sagittal anomalies of the jawbones were improved, and there were significant differences before and after treatment (P < 0.05). FCA, ULP, and UL-EP increased, soft-tissue facial prominence and facial height increased, and the relationship between the upper lip and the aesthetic plane was harmonious. None of the 30 children with skeletal Class III malocclusion in the deciduous stage experienced recurrence in stage IIIA. Conclusions Combined treatment with the maxillary pad movable appliance and the FR-III functional appliance is suitable for children with skeletal Class III malocclusion in the deciduous stage.

Background Dental caries is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide among children. The rs35874116 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the sweet receptor gene TAS1R2 has been associated with dental caries at a high risk in permanent teeth among school children and adults. To date, little is known about the association of this SNP with sweet intake and caries risk in the primary school children. Methods Total of 236 children were included, namely 118 subjects in the non-caries (NC) group and severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) group, respectively. Oral mucosa cells were collected from all the selected children, and the full length of exon 3 in TAS1R2 was sequenced to analyse rs35874116 polymorphism. A questionnaire was used to collect information about socio-demographic information, frequency of sweet intake and oral hygiene habits. Multiple logistic regression models were applied to assess the relationship of rs35874116 polymorphism with frequency of sweet intake and S-ECC among the five-year-old children. Results Children with the TT genotype of rs35874116 had a higher frequency of sweet intake than CT/CC carriers (51.3% vs. 32.7%; x2 = 5.436, p = 0.020), and S-ECC individuals were more likely to be TT genotype carriers than NC individuals (53.5% vs. 46.5%; x2 = 4.353, p = 0.037). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that the TT genotype of rs35874116 was not only significantly related to the frequency of sweet intake (OR = 2.25, 95% CI = 1.14–4.44) but also significantly associated with S-ECC (OR = 2.11, 95% CI = 1.01 ~ 4.42). Conclusions The rs35874116 polymorphism might increase sweet intake and the risk of S-ECC among five-year-old children in Nanning, China.