A case-control study on children's caries in China

Objectives: To explore the risk factors of children with high dmfs compared with children with no caries. Methods: 7 kindergartens in Conghua, located at suburban of Guangzhou in Southern China, were selected. 401 3-4-year-old children were examined for dental caries status, developmental defect of enamel (DDE) and Visible Plaque Index (VPI). Data on children's oral health behavior, parents' oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior and other related information were collected by structured questionnaire completed by their parents. 120 children (30%) with the highest dmfs score (dmfs≥7) and all 118 caries-free children were chosen for case-control analysis to explore the risk factors. Results: In bivariate analysis, age at start of toothbrushing, frequency of toothbrushing, frequency of sweet food consumption, pacifying children with sweet food, bottle feeding with sugar drinks, visiting a dentist, dental service accepted at last visit, VPI, parents' education level, parents' toothbrushing habit, parents' oral health knowledge and attitude were associated with caries experience of the children. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the factors associated with high dmfs score were VPI, age at start of toothbrushing, bottle feeding with sugar drinks, pacifying with sweet food and parents' oral health attitude. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that children starting to brush their teeth at earlier age in effective way, controlling sugar consumption and educating parents to have more positive attitude to oral health are important components in caries prevention among the children in Southern China.