Effect of birth rank on caries experience of Nigerian children

Objective: The study tried to assess the effect of a child's birthrank on the caries experience. Method: 135 children where recruited into the study. Information collected included the age of the child, the gender, and the birthrank. The age of the child was the age as at last birthday. The DMFT was also assessed for each child recruited into the study and their siblings. Result: Preliminary results showed that birthrank does not appear to influence the DMFT of the child. The model uses the first child as the reference. It compares the first and the second child and so on. The test of trend was significant. The only strong risk factors identified for caries in this study are age and gender with the DMFT reducing by 0.072 for every year increase in age - 95% confidence interval is 0.097 and -0.046 (p value <0.001). The DMFT is less by 0.25 in females compared with males - 95% confidence interval is -0.43 and -0.07 (p value = 0.007). Further analysis shall focus on defining the risk factors for caries with respect to birthrank in these children. Conclusion: Preliminary data does not implicate birthrank in the incidence of caries in Nigerian children