Early Childhood Caries and Risk Factors 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.

early childhood caries, risk factors, preschool children, Vietnam

1. Policy on early childhood caries (ECC): classifications, consequences, and preventive strategies. Pediatr Dent 37: 30-32, 2014.

2. Misra S, Tahmassebi JF, Brosnan M. Early childhood caries-a review. Dent Update 34: 556-558, 561-552, 564, 2007.

3. Schwendicke F, Dorfer CE, Schlattmann P, Foster Page L, Thomson WM, Paris S. Socioeconomic inequality and caries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Dent Res 94: 10-18, 2015.

4. Wong HM, McGrath CP, King NM, Lo EC. Oral health-related quality of life in Hong Kong preschool children. Caries Res 45: 370-376, 2011.

5. Acs G, Shulman R, Ng MW, Chussid S. The effect of dental rehabilitation on the body weight of children with early childhood caries. Pediatr Dent 21: 109- 113, 1999.

6. Li MY, Zhi QH, Zhou Y, Qiu RM, Lin HC. Impact of early childhood caries on oral health-related quality of life of preschool children. Eur J Paediatr Dent 16: 65-72, 2015.

7. Leong PM, Gussy MG, Barrow SY, de Silva-Sanigorski A, Waters E. A systematic review of risk factors during first year of life for early childhood caries. Int J Paediatr Dent 23: 235-250, 2013.

8. Thomson WM, Poulton R, Milne BJ, Caspi A, Broughton JR, Ayers KM. Socioeconomic inequalities in oral health in childhood and adulthood in a birth cohort. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 32: 345-353, 2004. 9. Loc Giang D, Spencer AJ, Roberts-Thomson KF, Hai Dinh T, Thuy Thanh

N. Oral health status of Vietnamese children: findings from the National Oral Health Survey of Vietnam 1999. Asia Pac J Public Health 23: 217-227, 2011.

10. Greene JC, Vermillion JR. The simplified oral hygiene index. J Am Dent Assoc 68: 7-13, 1964.

11. World Health Organization. Oral health surveys: basic methods, 5th edn. Geneva: WHO, 2013.

12. Law of health insurance. http://vanban.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban?class_id=1&_page=1&mode=detail&docu-ment_id=81142. (in Vietnamese) Accessed December 27, 2016.

13. Kiwanuka SN, Astrom AN, Trovik TA. Dental caries experience and its relationship to social and behavioural factors among 3-5-year-old children in Uganda. Int J Paediatr Dent 14: 336-346, 2004.

14. Sankeshwari RM, Ankola AV, Tangade PS, Hebbal MI. Association of socio-economic status and dietary habits with early childhood caries among 3-to-5-year-old children of Belgaum city. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 14: 147-153, 2013.

15. Ramos-Gomez FJ, Weintraub JA, Gansky SA, Hoover CI, Featherstone JD. Bacterial, behavioral and environmental factors associated with early childhood caries. J Clin Pediatr Dent 26: 165-173, 2002.

16. ÅStrØM AN, Kiwanuka SN. Examining intention to control preschool children’s sugar snacking: a study of carers in Uganda. Int J Paediatr Dent 16: 10-18, 2006.

17. Chu CH, Ho PL, Lo ECM. Oral health status and behaviours of preschool children in Hong Kong. BMC Public Health 12: 1-8, 2012.

18. Tham R, Bowatte G, Dharmage SC, et al. Breastfeeding and the risk of dental caries: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Acta Paediatrica 104: 62- 84, 2015.

19. Vietnam multiple indicator cluster survey 2014. https://www.unicef.org/vietnam/resources_24623.html. Accessed December 27, 2016.

20. Karjalainen S, Soderling E, Sewon L, Lapinleimu H, Simell O. A prospec-tive study on sucrose consumption, visible plaque and caries in children from 3 to 6 years of age. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 29: 136-142, 2001.

21. Cariño KMG, Shinada K, Kawaguchi Y. Early childhood caries in northern Philippines. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 31: 81-89, 2003.

22. Johansson I, Holgerson PL, Kressin NR, Nunn ME, Tanner AC. Snacking habits and caries in young children. Caries Res 44: 421-430, 2010.

23. Warren JJ, Levy SM, Nowak AJ, Tang S. Non-nutritive sucking behaviors in preschool children: a longitudinal study. Pediatr Dent 22: 187-191, 2000.

24. Uwaezuoke SN, Ilwchukwu IG, Okafor HU. Digit-sucking habit of preschool children in Enugu, Eastern Nigeria. J Pediatr Neurol 1: 99-101, 2003.

25. Yonezu T, Yakushiji M. Longitudinal study on influence of prolonged non-nutritive sucking habits on dental caries in Japanese children from 1.5 to 3 years of age. Bull Tokyo Dent Coll 49: 59-63, 2008.

26. Shelton PG, Berkowitz RJ, Forrester DJ. Nursing bottle caries. Pediatrics 59: 777-778, 1977.

27. Kolawole KA, Folayan MO, Agbaje HO, et al. Digit sucking habit and asso-ciation with dental caries and oral hygiene status of children aged 6 months to 12 years resident in semi-urban Nigeria. PLoS One 11: e0148322, 2016.

28. Slabsinskiene E, Milciuviene S, Narbutaite J, et al. Severe early childhood caries and behavioral risk factors among 3-year-old children in Lithuania. Medicina (Kaunas) 46: 135-141, 2010.

29. Pine CM, McGoldrick PM, Burnside G, et al. An intervention programme to establish regular toothbrushing: understanding parents’ beliefs and moti-vating children. Int Dent J Suppl Creating A Successful: 312-323, 2000.

30. Zhang S, Liu J, Lo EC, Chu CH. Dental caries status of Bulang preschool children in Southwest China. BMC Oral Health 14: 16, 2014.

31. Dawani N, Nisar N, Khan N, Syed S, Tanweer N. Prevalence and factors related to dental caries among pre-school children of Saddar town, Karachi, Pakistan: a cross-sectional study. BMC Oral Health 12: 59, 2012.

32. Rosenblatt A, Stamford TC, Niederman R. Silver diamine fluoride: a caries “silver-fluoride bullet”. J Dent Res 88: 116-125, 2009.

33. Llodra JC, Rodriguez A, Ferrer B, Menardia V, Ramos T, Morato M. Effi-cacy of silver diamine fluoride for caries reduction in primary teeth and first permanent molars of schoolchildren: 36-month clinical trial. J Dent Res 84: 721- 724, 2005.