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Prediction of dental caries development in 1-year-old children
M Grindefjord1, G Dahllöf, B Nilsson
1Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Insights
Early identification of children at high risk for dental caries is possible by assessing factors like immigrant background and sugar consumption at 1 year old. These indicators can guide preventive dental interventions for young children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dentistry
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Early childhood caries (ECC) poses a significant public health challenge.
- Identifying risk factors in infancy is crucial for timely intervention.
- Socioeconomic and microbial factors play a role in ECC development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the predictive value of factors assessed at 1 year of age for identifying children at risk of developing early caries.
- To analyze the association between dietary habits, oral hygiene, microbial colonization, and parental background with caries development.
- To establish a predictive model for early caries risk assessment in infants.
Main Methods:
- A longitudinal study involving 786 1-year-old children.
- Data collection included dietary habits, oral hygiene practices, fluoride exposure, and mutans streptococci levels.
- Multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to identify significant predictors of caries at 3.5 years of age.
Main Results:
- Immigrant background, lower maternal education, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and presence of mutans streptococci were significant predictors of caries at 3.5 years.
- Children with all identified risk factors present at 1 year had an 87% probability of developing caries.
- The relative risk (odds ratio) for developing manifest caries was 32 times higher in children with risk factors compared to those without.
Conclusions:
- Predictive assessment of dental caries risk in 1-year-old children is feasible using identified risk factors.
- Early identification enables targeted preventive strategies to mitigate caries development.
- Public health initiatives should focus on addressing socioeconomic disparities and promoting healthy dietary habits in infancy.
Abstract:
Dietary habits, oral hygiene, fluoride exposure and occurrence of mutans streptococci were studied in 1-year-old children (n = 786) as well as the socio-economic and immigrant background of their parents. The purpose was to evaluate the predictive ability of variables studied in 1-year-old children that could be used to identify children at risk for early caries development. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, the variables significantly associated with caries at 3.5 years of age were immigrant background (p < 0.001), mother's education (p < 0.001), consumption of sugar-containing beverages (p < 0.001), mutans streptococci (p < 0.05) and candy (p < 0.05). The probability of caries development was 87% when all the variables associated with caries were present at 1 year of age. The relative risk (odds ratio) of those children to develop manifest caries at 3.5 years of age was estimated to be 32 times higher than in the children where corresponding risk factors were not present. The results indicate that prediction at 1 year of age, built on risk factors associated with dental caries, can provide an indication of possible preventive interventions.