Relationship between Severe Early Childhood Caries and dental development

Authors:

ABSTRACT

Aim

Severe early childhood caries (sECC) is a public health problem that continues to affect infants and preschool children
worldwide. Knowledge of the changes in dental development is important for paediatric dentists in order to determine a treatment plan.
The aim of this study was to investigate dental development in children with sECC, compared to age and gender-matched controls, by
calculating the dental age (DA).

Methods

A total of 300 children (144 females, 156 males) with sECC aged 5
years were studied and compared with 300 control subjects (caries-free), case-matched for gender and age. The dental development
was assessed using the DA estimation method of Demirjian et al. [1973], and data were statistically analysed using a 2-sided t test and chi-squared test.

Results

The mean differences between the DA and chronological age (CA) in the sECC females and males were
0.67±0.6 years and 0.98±0.6 years, respectively, whereas the results of the case controls were 1.44±0.8 years for the females and 1.57±0.6 years for the males. The differences between the sECC and case control groups were significant for both genders (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Children with severe early childhood caries have lower rates of dental development when compared to normal
children.

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