Experience, prevalence and severity of dental caries and its association with nutritional status in Mexican infants 17-47 months

Objective. To determine the experience, prevalence and severity of dental caries and its relationship with nutritional status in nursery infants 17 to 47 months of age. Material and methods. A cross-sectional study in 152 infants 17 to 47 months of age attending one of five day care centers of the city of Pachuca, Hidalgo was performed. Clinical examinations were performed using the methods recommended by the World Health Organization for epidemiologic studies on dental caries. We calculated the caries index (dmft), the significant caries index (SiC) as well as the treatment needs index (TNI) and the care index (CI). Nutritional status was determined using the weight and height for age, in Federico Gomez's scale. In the statistical analysis nonparametric tests were used. Results. Mean age was 2.52 +/- 0.76 years; 51.3% were boys. With regard to nutritional status, 19.1% were classified as malnourished and 19.1% were overweight/obese. The dmft index was 1.53 +/- 2.52. The SiC index was 4.14, the TNI 86.3% and the CI 13.7%. Caries prevalence was 48.0%. It was observed that 33.5% of children had 1 to 3 teeth with caries experience and 14.5% had 4 or more teeth affected. Statistically significant differences for tooth decay were identified (p < 0.05) by age, height and weight but not (p > 0.05) by sex and nutritional status. Conclusions. This study shows that nearly half of children examined had caries experience. High treatment needs for dental caries were observed. A correlation was found between dmft index and age, weight and height. No association was identified between experience, prevalence and severity of dental caries and nutritional status of infants. It appears necessary to improve oral health preventive measures in these infants.