Early childhood caries in northern Philippines

Abstract

Caries prevalence and mean dmft (+/-SD) by age were as follows: 2 years = 59% (4.2 +/- 5.3); 3 years = 85% (7.4 +/- 5.5); 4 years = 90% (8.8 +/- 5.6); 5 years = 94% (9.8 +/- 5.5); and 6 years = 92% (10.1 +/- 5.5). Caries rates mirrored those of developing countries with untreated lesions dominating all ages. Mixed breast and bottle feeding was the norm. Almost half were weaned at more than 2 years old. Majority had toothbrushing practices, but mostly without parental assistance. Toothbrushing was initiated at an average age of 2 years. Only a small proportion had a dental visit, mostly for emergency reasons. Among 3-4-year-old children, a significant increase in caries levels were noted for those who started brushing at a later age, had frequent snacks, and had a dental visit for emergency reasons. For children aged 5-6 years, those who went for emergency visits also had significantly more caries. Results indicated an urgent need to (i) increase awareness that ECC is a public health problem in these areas, (ii) advocate use of fluoride as a public health measure, and (iii) increase access to preventive dental services for preschool children.

Aleitamento materno e cárie do lactente e do pré-escolar: uma revisão crítica

“…36,41,44,52,86,87 The prevalence of breastfeeding decreases with age, having very low rates in children aged between 12 and 24 months in Brazil 44 and in the world, 88 in contrast with the prevalence of ECC. 12,27,65,67 The prevalence of ECC has been constant over the years 6,67,73 even with an increase in the world prevalence of breastfeeding 89 and a fourfold increase in its median in the last three decades in Brazil. 90 Preterm and low birthweight infants, who are at great risk for ECC, tend to have a shorter breastfeeding period, 46,91,92 be bottle-fed for longer periods and ingest more sugar.…”

“…65 As may be observed, most authors did not find a correlation between ECC and breastfeeding or with its duration. 12,[25][26][27]40,[65][66][67][68][69][70] The obtained results often are contradictory and the findings were not always reproduced. The same was observed by Valaitis et al in a systematic review of 151 articles.…”

“…7,26,27 The literature does not provide a universally accepted definition for ECC, 12,14,28 but the AAPD considers ECC as the presence of any decayed deciduous tooth surface (cavitated or non-cavitated), missing (due to caries) or filled, in children younger than six years. Based on this definition, the expression severe ECC (S-ECC) was adopted in lieu of rampant caries, in the presence of at least one of the following criteria: a) any sign of caries on a smooth surface in children younger than three years; b) any smooth surface of an anteroposterior deciduous tooth that is decayed, missing (due to caries) or filled, in children between three and five years old; c) decayed, missing, and filled teeth index (DMFT) equal to or greater than 4 at the age of 3, 5 at the age of 4 and 6 at the age of 5 years.…”

School-based Oral Health Promotion and Intervention in AMIGA (Alfonso, Mendez, Indang, General Emilio Aguinaldo, Amadeo) Cavite, Philippines

“…Though official estimates regarding the availability of fluoridated toothpaste in the Philippines are lacking, however, media would show that multinational toothpaste companies dominate the market and aggressively promote the use of fluoridated toothpaste. (Cariño, Shinada, & Kawaguchi, 2003).…”

Preventive dental work with children of preschool age / Preventivni stomatološki rad sa djecom predškolskog uzrasta

“…U SAD, djeca kod koje je prihod porodice dva puta veći od granice siromaštva imaju prevalencu karijesa 32,3%, a ona iz porodica sa primanjima na i ispod granice siromaštva 48,8%. U siromašnim zemljama i zemljama u razvoju prevalenca karijesa kod dece ide i do 85% i zavisi od socijalno-ekonomskog statusa (8,9). U razvijenim Zapadnim zemljama pojava karijesa kod djece starosti 3 godine bila je 19,9% i ukazivala je na razlike zavisno od socijalnog statusa i nacionalne pripadnosti (10).…”