Infant Feeding, Weaning Practices and Oral Hygiene Status of 3 – 5-Year-Old Children with Severe Early Childhood Caries and Children without Caries in Kisumu, Kenya

Volume 2 - Issue 1

Dorah Wassuna and Gladys Opinya

Received: April 13, 2018;   Published: April 20, 2018

DOI: 10.32474/MADOHC.2018.02.000128

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Abstract

Severe early childhood caries (Severe-ECC) is an aggressive form of dental caries in the primary dentition associated with specific patterns of dietary intake in young children. The objective of this study was to compare oral hygiene status of children aged 3 – 5 years with Severe Early Childhood Caries (ECC) and the oral hygiene of children without caries, infant feeding, and weaning practices.

One hundred and ninety-six children aged between stage between thirty-six to sixty months were selected using purposeful sampling.There were eighty-one children with severe early childhood decay were chosen from amongst the patients who had sought dental treatment at the dental clinic at the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital (NNPGH). However, 115 children who were caries free were selected from children attending the maternal child health clinic at NNPGH. Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were used to estimate the strength of association between variables. The significance level was at a confidence interval of 95%. Ninety-four (48%), of the children, were breastfed or bottle-fed for 24 months or more. Among the children with severe ECC and children without caries 55 (67.9%) and 70 (60.9%) were exclusively breastfed respectively. In conclusios children with fair oral hygiene status were 148 (75.5%) of whom 64 (79.1) had severe ECC while 84(73.0%) had healthy teeth. The children with poor oral hygiene were in total 10( 5.1%) of whom three had severe-ECC, and five had no decay. Children with Severe – ECC were fed on demand, and their oral hygiene was poor compared to children without caries also.

Keywords: Infant feeding habits; Weaning practices; Severe-ECC; Oral hygiene

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