RESUMEN
Abstract Objective: To evaluate the relationship between the feeding method and early childhood caries (ECC) in children aged 3-5 years. Material and Methods: An observational study using a cross-sectional approach and convenience sampling method was performed on 165 children aged 36-71 months from eight kindergartens in Grogol Utara, Indonesia. Data on feeding and oral hygiene behavior patterns were obtained through interviews using a structured questionnaire, and an oral examination was performed to collect information on oral health using the decayed, extracted, filled surface and plaque indices. The oral examination was performed by two examiners who were calibrated for intra- and interobserver reliability (Kappa = 0.9) Results: The prevalence of dental caries was 83%, with mean values of decayed, extracted, filled teeth (deft) and of defs being 6.2 and 14.8, respectively. The prevalence of children with anterior dental caries was higher than that of children with posterior-only dental caries. The most severely affected teeth were maxillary central incisors (right = 62.4%; left = 61.2%), followed by maxillary lateral incisors (right = 49.1%; left = 44.2%). The caries pattern was almost symmetrical across the arches. There were significant differences between breastfeeding methods with anterior (p<0.05), but not with posterior dental caries. The complementary feeding initiation age was significantly different between anterior and posterior teeth caries groups (p<0.05), but complementary food type after tooth eruption and infant formula frequency were related only to anterior dental caries (p<0.05) Conclusion: The patterns of breastfeeding and complementary feeding were related to dental caries in anterior and posterior teeth. The feeding method that increases the ECC score in anterior and posterior teeth was the age at initiation of complementary feeding.