Prevalence of caries in 2-5 years old Greek children

Objective: This is a pilot study on the prevalence of early childhood caries and its association to various determinants for caries development in 2-5 years of age children born in Greece. Methods: 156 children (age 2-5years) were randomly selected from 7 public kindergartens of Tavros, a low socioeconomic municipality of the major area of Attica, Greece A questionnaire was completed by the parents investigating demographic and socioeconomic factors related to the family, the general and dental health, daily oral hygiene and dietary behaviors of both children and parents. After obtaining a written consent form from the parents, a clinical dental examination was performed by two calibrated pediatric dentists, in a mobile dental unit provided by AIM/Unilever. Using a plane dental mirror, cavitated caries lesions were recorded. The statistical analysis was performed using Spearman rank correlations and multiple regression analysis to identify factors affecting dmft. A 5% level of significance was used to evaluate the results. Results: The caries prevalence was 38.2% and the mean dmft was 1.83 with a standard deviation of 3.46. The values of dmft ranged 0-19. Child's age and general health, parental education and place of birth as well as child's and parents' frequency of dental visits, significantly affected the dmft values (P-value <=.05). Conclusion: This pilot study confirms that the low socioeconomic status, the low educational level of the parents as well as the poor oral health status of the parents affect negatively the dental heath status of their children. The caries prevalence from this early age group dictates the need of preventive public health programs for both parents and children in populations with low socioeconomic level.