Ingesta dietética y caries de la primera infancia / Dietary intake and early childhood caries

ABSTRACT

Early childhood caries (ECC) affect children less than 71 months of age (1) and it represents a public health problem in countries worldwide (2­4). The mean ECC prevalence in United Nations Countries was 23.8% in children younger than 36 months and 57.3% in children aged 36 to 71 months. East Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean were the worst affected by ECC among children aged 36 to 71 months (5). Dental caries pertains to a group of diseases that are estimated "complex" or "multifactorial," with no single origin pathway (6) and it is resulted by the interaction of bacteria, mainly Streptococci mutans (SM) and actobacilli (LB), and sugary foods on tooth enamel (6,7). Additionally, there must be a lack of oral hygiene and lack of use of fluoride (8).