[Assessing the relationship between diet and prevalence of early childhood caries in Birjand preschool children]

Early Childhood Caries [ECC] is one of the most prevalent and chronic diseases in children which may cause pain and dental infection, and often requires dental treatment under general anesthesia. Most researchers emphasize on complex and unknown reasons for occurrence of ECC. Children's diet analysis in each community can be useful in assessment of diet sufficiency and the potential of its cariogeniocity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between prevalence of the ECC and diet in children in the city of Birjand. In this descriptive, and cross sectional study, 500 children aged 24-71 month-old from Birjand were selected. In order to analyze the diet regimen of samples, 7 day diet history was recorded and compared with the United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] diet model. The samples were examined for dental caries and the association between the severity of ECC and diet was evaluated. For analyzing the results of the study Mann-Whitney, Chi-Square and Spearman tests were used. 1. The prevalence of ECC and SECC [Sever Early Childhood Caries] were found to be 83.9% and 50.2% respectively. 2. The mean consumption of the snack category was greater in boys [p=0.01]. 3. The mean dmft and dmfs scores were associated with an increase in the mean consumption serving of the snack category [p=0.001]. 4. In children with recommended consumption or more than the recommended consumption serving in milk and meat groups, the mean dmfs was less than the other samples [p<0.001]. Most of children had not desirable diet and the prevalence of ECC showed to be high in them