Effect of Birth Order on Experience of Early Childhood Caries and Consequence of Untreated Dental Caries in Children from Sub Urban Population in South India

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is considered as one of the most chronic and prevalent conditions of the childhood. Oral disease pose a large economic impact besides its personal and public implications, as they are expensive to treat. Developed countries have been studying the underlying causes and risk factors of ECC in various populations; however , similar literature is sparse for developing nations where the prevalence of ECC is higher. Consequences of untreated caries in very young children result in pain, malnutrition, harmful impact on childs growth rate and development, and debilitation in the oral and physical functionality of child. While the etiological factors for ECC are well established and the role of the socio demographic and geographic inequalities in ECC incidence is understood, the various social and biological context that may increase the predisposition of a child to ECC has been studied very little in India.

Methods - Inforamtion is being collected from 100 families reporting to the hospital with at least one child suffering from ECC. Inforamtion collected includes the age if the child as on last birth day, the gender and the birth rank. The dmft/pufa scores are being assessed for each child as well as that of his/her sibling on following visits. The model uses the first child as reference and trend of assosiation is also tested.

Results - Ongoing study

Conclusion - Ongoing study