Riesgo de aparición de caries en preescolares. Humocaro Alto. Estado Lara. 2006 / Risk of caries appearance in preschool children. Humocaro Alto. Lara state. 2006

RESUMEN

La caries dental constituye uno de los problemas de salud más frecuentes entre la población. Es una enfermedad infecciosa, localizada y progresiva del diente cuya aparición depende de factores relacionados con el individuo, la placa dentobacteriana y el sustrato presente en el medio bucal. Asimismo, son considerados factores de riesgo sociales, el estrato socioeconómico, el estilo de vida y el nivel cultural, que al interrelacionarse con los factores biológicos definen el perfil de riesgo de cada individuo. Se realizó una investigación cuyo objetivo general fue identificar factores de riesgo para caries en una población de preescolares. Se tomaron en cuenta factores dietéticos, ambientales y dependientes del huésped. Entre los factores condicionantes de caries presentes en la muestra estudiada, se encontraron consumo de lactancia materna más allá del año de edad, lactancia artificial prolongada, consumo de leche en horas de la noche hasta la edad de 1 año, inicio tardío de la higiene bucal, uso de chupón y consumo de chucherías y otros alimentos azucarados y visitas al odontólogo en un bajo porcentaje de casos. El 100 por ciento de la población se ubicó en las clases sociales obrera y marginal, factor que contribuye a la presencia de caries debido al bajo nivel de educación y a la poca disponibilidad de recursos económicos. Se concluye que, los preescolares estudiados están sometidos a factores de riesgo de caries dados por factores dietéticos, inicio tardío de los hábitos de higiene bucal, visita tardía o ausencia de visitas al odontólogo y bajas condiciones socioeconómicas

ABSTRACT

Dental caries constitutes one of the most frequent health problems in our population. It is an infection which can progress to a curable disease and is located on the tooth. Its appearance various due to factors related to the individual such as dental plaque and the existing substratum in the oral enviroment. In addition, there are social risk factors, such as the socioeconomic stratum, the lifestyle and the cultural standard, which all are interrelated with the biological factors and defines the caries risk profile of every individual. The aim of this present study was to identify risk factors for dental caries in a population of preschool children. Dietary, environmental, socioeconomic and dependent on the guest factors were studied. Results showed that the risk factors for dental caries that were prevalent in the studied sample were consumption of mother's lactation beyond the age of 1, prolonged artificial lactation, consumption of milk during night time hours up to the age of 1 year, late beginning of the oral health, use of sugary pacifiers, consumption of sugary food and low percentage of dentist visits. One-hundred percent of the studied sample was located in the labour and marginal social classes. Factors that contributed to the presence of caries were due to the low- level of education and the lack of access to financial resources. These findings suggest that preschool students are at risk for dental caries constituted by dietary factors, late beginning of oral health habits, late visits or absence of visits to the dentist and low socioeconomic conditions.