RISK FACTORS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD CARIES (ECC) IN 2-5 YEARS OLD CHILDREN

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the association of dietary habits and socioeconomic status for early childhood caries (ECC) among 2-5 years old children. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 children (aged 2-5 years) were examined for gender, dmft, dmfs, dietary and brushing habits, duration and contents of bottle feeding, number of family individuals, educational level and occupation of parents and socioeconomic status. Statistical analysis was performed by using NCSS 2007 software and one-way ANOVA, tukey test, t-test, chi-square test were performed between the groups. Results: According to the results, 62.7% of the children had a history of bottle-feeding. Gender, number of main meal and drinking milk before sleeping were positively and total income was negatively associated with bottle feeding (p=0.031, p=0.017, p=0.038, p=0.0001). For children which were using bottle, the mean average of dmf and dmfs scores were 9.88, 15.5 respectively. Statistically significant differences were found between dmf, dmfs scores and bottle feeding (p=0.0001). Only breast feeding, only feeding bottle and bottle with breast feeding were significantly associated with dmf and dmfs scores (p=0.0001). Anterior caries pattern was significantly high for bottle feeeding than only breast and bottle feeding and only breast feeding (p=0.0001). Socioeconomic status was found significantly associated with dmf and dmfs scores (p=0.004, p=0.036). Conclusion: ECC was more prevalent in preschool children especially who were in low socioeconomic status. It was concluded that night-time breast-feeding in children, using of a bottle at night and during the day correlated with the etiology of ECC.