Early Childhood Caries underweight or overweight, that is the question

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ABSTRACT

Aim

The purpose of this retrospective case study is to describe the body mass index in a group of children, from 3
to 6 years old with ECC and a similar group of caries-free children.

Methods

This case-control analysis
involves two groups of children: the first was of 244 healthy children, 3 to 6 year-old and caries-free; the second was of 586
otherwise healthy children, same age, with Early Childhood Caries divided into three subgroups according the AAPD
definition. Demographics, dmft, number teeth with pulpal involvement, BMI percentile, weight at birth, weight and height of
both parents were measured during the clinical evaluation. Statistical analyses were performed using standard statistical
software (SPSS Version 13). BMI distribution of the subjects with caries was graphically compared with the use of confidence
intervals to a similar caries-free sample.

Results

Results are expressed as mean SD and frequencies
(percentages), depending on the data type. The distribution of BMI percentiles of the ECC group was: underweight =
10; normal weight = 55.90; at risk of overweight = 22.22 ; overweight = 11.11. Significantly,
more children in the case group were underweight than in the control group (10 vs. 4.94).

Conclusion

The ECC population does not have a typical weight distribution, and the underweight finding in a significant number of
Severe ECC (S-ECC) children may be due to the chewing alteration related to the dental pain due to caries and to missing
teeth after hard tissues breakdown.

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