Shazia Makhdoom, Manzar Anwar Khan, Zia-ur rahman Qureshi.
Assessment of early childhood caries (ECC) and its relationship with feeding practices — a study.
Pak Oral Dental J Jan ;35(2):254-7.

Early childhood caries remains a problem in both developed and developing countries and has been considered to be in an epidemic proportion in developing countries. The aim of this study was to asses the prevalence of Early Childhood Caries and its relationship with feeding practices. It was carried out at Khyber College of Dentistry Hospital. It was spread over a period of three months. This was cross sectional analytical study children of 2-6 years old formed the study group. Sample size was 194 children and sampling technique was convenience purposive. Children were examined on dental unit by the principal author and caries were detected using dft index. A parent or care giver, after taking the informed consent, was asked to complete a self-designed questionnaire regarding information about the child’s pattern of feeding, mother education level, socio economics status age of starting brushing, having snack between meals and dft status. The study showed prevalence of ECC was 55.2%. In this study breast, fed children were 84% and bottle-fed were 16%. Pecentage of ECC in breast-fed children was 51.6%, which was less than the percentage of ECC in bottle-fed children, which was 72.25%. Those children who took bottle at nighttime had more carries (72.5%) as compared to those who did not (50%). Caries in children was 89% who took milk with sugar at night as compared to those who did not. Incident of carries was more in the children of illiterate mothers (56%) than those of educated mothers (10%). This study documented high prevalence of ECC among 2-6 year olds children. Prevalence of ECC was more in bottle fed children specially in those children who were given milk with sugar in bottle at night. Results reveal an urgent need of increased awareness among the public about ECC and their attitude towards the importance of primary teeth. This is high time to institute preventive strategies to control ECC.

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