Association of Undernutrition and Early Childhood Dental Caries

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To determine the association between early childhood caries and nutritionalstatus in preschool children. Methods: Cross-sectional study among preschool children(N=550, age 8-60 mo) were selected in tribal, rural and urban health care units of Kerala. Anoral examination for early childhood caries status was done using Deft index. Theanthropometric measurements were recorded. Multiple logistic regression with othercovariates was used to determine the association between the early childhood caries andnutritional status. Results: The mean (SD) Deft scores were 0.93 (1.73), 2.22 (2.92) and 3.40(3.23) for children with normal nutritional status, borderline undernutrition and undernutrition,respectively. Children with borderline undernutrition (adjusted OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.20, 3.49) orundernutrition (adjusted OR 3.46, 95% CI 1.93, 6.29) had higher odds of dental caries incomparison to those with normal nutritional status. Conclusion: Undernutrition is associatedwith early childhood caries among preschool children.