Abstract
Objectives:
to identify factors associated with the incidence of caries in early childhood.
Methods:
a prospective (14 months) cohort study was conducted with 495 children aged between 4 and 30 months in public, private and philanthropic crèches in Salvador-Bahia.
Results:
the mean number of teeth with caries was 0.18 (SD=0.75) at the start of the study and 0.55 (SD=1.40) at the end. The incidence in children originally free of caries was 18.5% and 22.6% in the group as a whole. Three models were considered for logistic regression analysis. In the group as a whole (N=495), the most prevalent factors were prior experience of caries (OR=6.8; CI95%= 3.0-15.1), attending a public crèche (OR=2.9; CI95%= 1.6-5.3), and age > 24 months. In the second model, attending a public crèche (N=329): age, breastfeeding during sleep (OR=1.9; CI95%= 1.1-3.2), white stains (OR=3.5; CI95%= 1.1-11.3), a home without adequate shelter (OR=2.3; CI95%= 1.2-4.1) and prior experience of caries (OR=3.9; CI95%= 1.5-10.6) were the main factors. And, in the third model, children without caries at the start of the study(N=495), the main factors were attending a public crèche, age, dark skin color (OR=5.5; CI95%= 1.3-23.8) and breastfeeding during sleep after one year(OR= 1.7; CI95%= 1.0-2.8).
Conclusions:
social vulnerability was found to be a powerful risk factor for caries in children under two years of age. Action needs to be taken to improve living conditions and promote dental health in order to reduce morbidity.
Key words:
Dental caries; Incidence; Risk factors; Socioeconomic status