Factors Associated with Early Childhood Caries in Polish Three-Year-Old Children

To assess the prevalence and associated factors with early childhood caries (ECC) in a Polish population.

A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 656 three-year-old preschool children of both sexes. Data were collected through oral examination of the children and a questionnaire self-reported by their parents. The questionnaire contained information on sociodemographic aspects, feeding and oral hygiene practices, dental care utilisation and dental health knowledge. Associations between ECC and caries-related factors were analysed with use of bivariate and multivariate logistic regression and Mann-Whitney U test.

ECC was diagnosed in 64.0% children from the rural area and 46.6% from the urban one, more often in boys (57.7%) compared to girls (49.5%) and S-ECC in 37.1%, 24.2%, 31.5% and 27.5%, respectively. The associations between caries experience and living in a rural area, male sex, education level and oral health-related knowledge of a parent, tooth brushing frequency, nocturnal bottle-feeding and feeding with sweet beverages at the age over 12 months, consumption of sweetened within the first 2 years of age and drinking of sweet beverages once a week at bivariate level were found. In the final model of the logistic multivariate regression analysis, seven variables were associated with ECC experience. They revealed the probability in decreasing order: living in a rural area (odds ratios (OR) = 1.90); feeding the child during the first 2 years with sweetened food (OR = 1.77); nocturnal drinking of sweet beverages by the >12-month-old child (OR = 1.73); education level of parent (OR = 1.53); gender - male (OR = 1.48); nocturnal bottle-feeding of the over-12-month child (OR = 1.44); and frequency of tooth brushing (OR = 1.41).

The most prominent risk factors for ECC were living in a rural area, consumption of sweetened foods within the first 2 years of age and nocturnal drinking of sweet beverages by the over 12-month-old child.