Prevalence of dental caries in children born prematurely or at full term

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of dental caries in 192 children, 96 born prematurely and 96 at full term, in a regional hospital in Brazil. Mean age at clinical examination was 40.72 months in the full-term group (G1) and 30.44 months in the premature group (G2). The children were divided in two age subgroups: 0 to 3 and 4 to 6 years. Statistical results (Student's t and Kruskal-Wallis tests) showed that dmft was 0.43 for G1 and 0.01 for G2 in the 0-3 age subgroup, and 1.7 for G1 and 1.1 for G2 in the 4-6 age subgroup. Differences were significant between G1 and G2 only in the 0-3 age subgroup (p = 0.047). Caries evaluation showed that, of the 96 children in G1, 75 were caries free, while in G2, 84 did not have the disease. These differences were not significant (p = 0.088). The lower mean dmft found in the 0-3 age subgroup in G2 may be attributed to routines established by the hospital's neonatology staff, such as frequent dental visits and preventive instructions about oral habits, oral hygiene and diet. After this age, with the completion of the primary dentition, values increased and became similar between the G1 and G2 groups. Results also suggested a highly skewed distribution since most caries were found in only a small number of children.

Dental caries in the primary dentition of a Colombian population according to the ICDAS criteria

“…reported a dental caries prevalence of 13.5% in the same age group in low-income children, and 21.9% in another group between 0 and 6 years of age. 18,19 When non-cavitated lesions are included in the different socio-economic groups, the untreated caries prevalence rises to 35-97%. 12,13,20,21 These results can also be compared with some early childhood caries prevalence data in this age group, encountered during the last five years in Canada, ranging from 57 to 98%.…”

Association Between Dental Caries in Primary Dentition with Low Birth Weight and Premature Birth: A Case-Control Study

“…Dental decays are one of the most common pediatric problems (1,7,8). It is a multifactorial disease with a strong tie to many conditions such as dental hygiene, dietary habits, socioeconomic status, water fluoride, and oral bacteria (9). Dental caries have serious consequences such as pain, infection, tooth loss, and dysfunction of masticatory system, which can negatively affect development and health (10).…”

“…Some studies indicate the link between low birth weight and dental caries (7,9,(16)(17)(18), while some studies reported insignificant association (12,14,15,19,20). Besides, previous studies did not assess premature birth and low birth weight as separate variables (7,9,12,(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Therefore, this study was conducted to test whether children with higher caries rates have had lower birth weights and premature births or not.…”

Hipomineralização molar incisivo (MIH) : uma correlação de fatores possivelmente desencadeantes

“…No Brasil, os dados de reconhecimento desta patologia, bem como de sua prevalência na população, ainda são poucos (6,7,8,9), mas o seu conhecimento aprofundado, com identificação precisa de sua etiologia, mostra-se relevante. Uma possível consequência de um esmalte defeituoso, por exemplo, é um rápido desenvolvimento de lesões de cárie, logo após a erupção dos molares permanentes, com necessidade de procedimentos clínicos e tratamentos recorrentes.…”

“…A falta de acompanhamento médico durante a gestação mostrou porcentagem elevada, mas sem valor estatístico; dos indivíduos pesquisados que possuíam MIH (N=9), 22,22% informaram não ter feito pré-natal (p-valor 0,19; OR:3). Em relação a idade gestacional 11,11% das crianças com MIH eram prematuras (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)14). Das crianças com MIH, 66,7% mamaram no seio materno mais do que 1 ano, (p-valor=0,05) (95% de confiança) mostrando uma relação estatisticamente significativa.…”