Baby Oral Health Promotion Clinic- The First Step towards Healthy Mouth

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is one of the most common chronic diseases of early childhood that affects teeth of infants as soon as they erupt. ECC prevalence varies from population to population with more than 70% occurring in developing countries. ECC prevalence in Mysore is about 56%. To prevent caries in children, individuals with high risk for caries must be identified at an early age and aggressive strategies must be adopted like anticipatory guidance, behavior modifications with respect to oral hygiene and feeding practices and establishment of dental home by the time the first tooth erupts. In an attempt prevent caries in children we adopted the concept of infant oral health care.

Method: Approval of ethical board was obtained. Children visiting the Pediatric OPD of General Hospital for immunization were recruited by simple random sampling (n=150). Written informed consent was obtained from parents willing to participate. All the parents were given oral health education through an audio visual aid. To reinforce the oral health education, oral health pamphlets were also provided. Intra oral examination was conducted at birth and at 3 monthly intervals for a period of three years. At each visit eruption status and development of dental caries was evaluated.

Results: Among the 150 recruited 45 subjects were lost for follow up. A total of 105 children were followed up from birth to three years. Mean age of eruption of first primary tooth was 10.44 ± 1.89 months and all the primary teeth erupted by 27.59 ± 3.38 months. Only two among 105 children developed ECC suggesting that 98% of children were caries free.

Conclusions: The model discussed here appears to be successful for prevention of ECC along with being cost-effective, evidence-based and population-specific.