IADR Abstract Archives
Early Childhood Caries Subtype Predicts Subsequent Disease Experience
Objectives: Early childhood caries (ECC) has heterogenous clinical presentation and recent data suggest ECC can be classified into different subtypes of disease. The study aimed to test whether ECC subtypes are associated with subsequent caries experience in Swedish children.
Methods: The study samples included Swedish children aged between 3 and 5 years at entry into the study. Dental records were retrieved from the Swedish Quality Registry for caries and periodontal disease (SKaPa) for baseline and subsequent dental visits with up to 6 years of longitudinal follow-up. ECC subtypes were assigned at the first visit using latent class modelling of tooth surface-level caries experience obtained from dental charts. Caries experience at subsequent visits was quantified using the number of decayed, missing due to caries or filled permanent tooth surfaces (i.e., the DMFS index) and was compared between ECC subtype groups using logistic and negative binomial regression models.
Results: The study included 128,616 children with 3 or more dental visits, of whom 29,091 (22.6%) had ECC at the first visit. Children with all forms of ECC had more incident disease than those who were caries-free at baseline; however, caries risk differed between ECC subtypes. At age 6, incidence rate ratios for DMFS were 12.8 for ECC subtype V (wherein posterior and anterior teeth are affected) versus no ECC, and 2.6 for ECC subtype II (wherein pits and fissures of posterior teeth are mostly affected) versus no ECC (p<0.001 for both results).
Conclusions: In this study children with all types of ECC at their first visit had high levels of incident caries in primary and permanent teeth over a 6-year period, but at different rates in the different ECC subtypes. This suggests that development of a validated classification system for ECC may help identify children at highest risk of future disease.
Methods: The study samples included Swedish children aged between 3 and 5 years at entry into the study. Dental records were retrieved from the Swedish Quality Registry for caries and periodontal disease (SKaPa) for baseline and subsequent dental visits with up to 6 years of longitudinal follow-up. ECC subtypes were assigned at the first visit using latent class modelling of tooth surface-level caries experience obtained from dental charts. Caries experience at subsequent visits was quantified using the number of decayed, missing due to caries or filled permanent tooth surfaces (i.e., the DMFS index) and was compared between ECC subtype groups using logistic and negative binomial regression models.
Results: The study included 128,616 children with 3 or more dental visits, of whom 29,091 (22.6%) had ECC at the first visit. Children with all forms of ECC had more incident disease than those who were caries-free at baseline; however, caries risk differed between ECC subtypes. At age 6, incidence rate ratios for DMFS were 12.8 for ECC subtype V (wherein posterior and anterior teeth are affected) versus no ECC, and 2.6 for ECC subtype II (wherein pits and fissures of posterior teeth are mostly affected) versus no ECC (p<0.001 for both results).
Conclusions: In this study children with all types of ECC at their first visit had high levels of incident caries in primary and permanent teeth over a 6-year period, but at different rates in the different ECC subtypes. This suggests that development of a validated classification system for ECC may help identify children at highest risk of future disease.