Malnourishment in children: Can caries be blamed?

It is seen that severe childhood caries (SCC) can adversely affect the quality of life and nutritional intake, so we hypothesized that children with SCC have compromised nutritional status.

Objective: To determine the nutritional status and growth of children with SCC followed by evaluating the effect of comprehensive dental care as compared to children without dental caries.

Method: A convenience sample of 87 children (Group I – 42 cases, Group II - 45 controls, age range = 3-6years, 45males, 42females) from day care centers and schools, with non significant medical histories were considered. Quality of life was determined through questionnaire following which height(Ht), weight(Wt), head circumference(HC) and mid arm circumference(MAC) were measured. Comprehensive dental treatment was provided as per the need to all children with SCC. Measurements were repeated at follow up visit of six months and both groups were comparatively evaluated.

Results: Chi square test was used to determine the correlation between SCC and normal Ht, Wt, HC, MAC percentile charts (Indian affluent and WHO). No significant correlation was seen between caries experience and Ht or MAC. 42.2% of children in group I had Wt <3rd percentile indicating a significant correlation between caries and decreased Wt (p<0.046). At the follow up visit of 6 months it was seen that there was a highly significant increase in Wt (p<0.001, Wilcoxon signed rank test Z value-3.181) and a significant increase in MAC (p<0.038) in all the cases for which comprehensive dental treatment had been carried out.

Conclusion: There is a significant correlation between caries and malnutrition which affects the development of children. There is a need for awareness of masses regarding the importance of healthy teeth in general health and nutrition as comprehensive dental treatment at right time may result in improvement in overall growth.