OBJECTIVE: To investigate caries prevalence and examine its relationship with socioeconomic status and oral health behavior of Vietnamese kindergarten children. STUDY DESIGN: The study was carried out on 1,028 children aged 2-5 years in six kindergartens in Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. Information about socioeconomics and oral health behaviors was collected through a self-administered questionnaire, and oral health status by clinical dental examination. RESULTS: Clinical dental examination found that overall caries prevalence and mean dmft were 89.1% and 9.32. Caries prevalence and mean dmft increased greatly from two years to three years old, and gradually developed from three years to five years old. A logistic regression revealed that caries had an inverse relationship with mothers' educational level and a positive relationship with the habit of retaining food in the mouth for a long time in two-year-old children. Prolonged breastfeeding, more frequent sweets consumption, no thumb sucking habit, and higher modified debris index score were the risk factors for caries among three-to-five-year-old children. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated a high prevalence of caries and related risk factors such as low mother's educational level and inappropriate oral health behavior among kindergarten children in Vietnam.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate caries prevalence and examine its relationship with socioeconomic status and oral health behavior of Vietnamese kindergarten children. STUDY DESIGN: The study was carried out on 1,028 children aged 2-5 years in six kindergartens in Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. Information about socioeconomics and oral health behaviors was collected through a self-administered questionnaire, and oral health status by clinical dental examination. RESULTS: Clinical dental examination found that overall caries prevalence and mean dmft were 89.1% and 9.32. Caries prevalence and mean dmft increased greatly from two years to three years old, and gradually developed from three years to five years old. A logistic regression revealed that caries had an inverse relationship with mothers' educational level and a positive relationship with the habit of retaining food in the mouth for a long time in two-year-old children. Prolonged breastfeeding, more frequent sweets consumption, no thumb sucking habit, and higher modified debris index score were the risk factors for caries among three-to-five-year-old children. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated a high prevalence of caries and related risk factors such as low mother's educational level and inappropriate oral health behavior among kindergarten children in Vietnam.
Entities:
Keywords:
Vietnam; early childhood caries; preschool children; risk factors
Authors: Debbie Huang; Karen Sokal-Gutierrez; Kenny Chung; Wenting Lin; Linh Ngo Khanh; Raymond Chung; Hung Trong Hoang; Susan L Ivey Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2019-07-19 Impact factor: 3.390