Early childhood caries: a challenge to health care professionals

ABSTRACT

There are continuous reports of very high prevalence of early childhood caries. The most common factors in the aetiology of early childhood caries include, prolonged feeding of sweetened fluids from a nursing bottle at bed time, on-demand and prolonged breast feeding, use of sweetened pacifiers, carbonated beverages/fruit juices, poor oral hygiene and certain socioeconomic factors. In the Middle East, a very high caries prevalence [higher than 70%] has been reported in several recent studies. Strong preventive efforts are required to control this situation. The preventive programmes for early childhood caries should be designed in the light of socioeconomic, cultural and behavioural background of a specific population. All prospective and new parents need professional preventive advice and continuous reinforcement. Practical advice to parents is given regarding healthy feeding habits and good oral hygiene. The prevention of early childhood-caries needs considerable effort and planning, and prevention has proven to be much more cost effective than the costs incurred in treatment