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Published on: March 29, 2018
Prevalence of deciduous tooth erosion in childhood
S A S Moimaz1, P C Araújo, F Y Chiba
1Department of Infant and Social Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP, Araçatuba, Brazil.
Objectives:
The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of deciduous tooth erosion and to identify possible associations with sex, age and toothbrushing frequency in children aged 4-6 years.
Methods:
The sample was drawn from attendants (n = 7058) of 57 public preschools in a Brazilian city. Tooth wear index was used to evaluate erosion. Descriptive statistical analysis consisted of the calculation of the prevalence of dental erosion; chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were performed to verify the association between dental erosion and sex, age and toothbrushing frequency.
Results:
Two thousand and seven hundred and fifty-nine preschool students were examined. Deciduous tooth erosion was observed in 0.6% of children and its incidence did not differ between sexes. The highest prevalence was observed in children aged 6 years (58.3%) and the most affected sextants were the fourth (22.86%) and sixth (20.00%), indicating that lingual and occlusal tooth surfaces were most frequently involved. The degree of involvement was classified as incipient in 54.29% of children and moderate in 45.71%. The significance level was set at 5%. No association was found between erosion and sex, age or toothbrushing frequency.
Conclusions:
The prevalence of deciduous tooth erosion was low in Brazilian children, and this disorder is not considered a public health problem in this part of the population.
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