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Objective: To study the relationship between primary tooth discoloration and caries in preschool children. Methods: 675 preschool children enrolled from 5 preschools in Suzhou City, China were examined for dental caries and tooth surface stain. Parents completed the questionnaires about their children's eating habit and living habit. The relationship between primary tooth discoloration and caries was analyzed with the respect to diet, hygiene, and the use of medicine or medical supplements. Results: Of the 675 children, 117(17. 3％; 52 boys and 65 girls) had tooth discoloration with no significant differences between gender(P＞ 0. 05). In the 117 children with tooth discoloration, 36(30. 8％) had dental caries, and in the 558 children without tooth discoloration 325 had caries (58. 2％, between the 2 groups, P＜ 0. 05). The incidence of discoloration was related with the frequency of consuming pigmented foods, vegetable and Chinese herbal medicines(P＜ 0. 05). The frequency of brushing teeth, use of water purifier and the water intake quantity were not significantly associated with discoloration of the teeth(P＞ 0. 05). Conclusion: The discoloration of primary teeth was negatively correlated with caries in primary teeth. Intake of pigmented food and medicine, vegetable and Chinese herbal medicine is related to tooth discoloration in preschool children.
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[Abstract ]Objective:To estimate dental maturation norms of permanent dentition in a group of Nanjing children using Nolla's tech-nique.Methods:549 cases of panoramic radiographs (279 males and 270 females)of Nanjing children at the age range of 3 to 16 years were collected for the study.All permanent mandibular teeth on the left side (except for the third molars)were scored according to Nolla's method,and data were presented in tables and used to plot dental maturation curves for the Nanjing boys and girls.Results:Females were found to be more advanced in the degrees of dental development.Dental maturation is significantly associated with chron-ological age (for males and females:r =0.959,P <0.001 and r =0.953,P <0.001,respectively).The mathematical model of them was established,and then the fitting equation was obtained.Conclusion:The dental maturation curve and chronology of permanent dentition can provide the growth norms of permanent teeth for Nanjing children and facilitate the way for dentists to assess the growing children during diagnosis and treatment planning.