title: Feeding practices and dental caries in an urban Canadian population of Vietnamese preschool children.
abstract: The aim of this project was to determine the severity of nursing caries, and to examine contributing behavioral factors, in a group of Vietnamese families in British Columbia, Canada. The data collected became the basis for a community-based oral health promotion program. Information on feeding, dental health practices, and dental caries were collected for 60 mother/child pairs. For children > or = 18 mos, prevalence of nursing caries was 64 percent. Sixty-five percent of all children had a naptime bottle, and 85 percent > or = 18 mos had a "comfort" bottle that was carried around, and drunk from during the day. Milk was the most common beverage. A "comfort" bottle was significantly related to the presence of nursing caries, P = 0.02; a naptime bottle had a less significant association, P = 0.07. Dental knowledge questions revealed that all mothers knew that a child who had a "comfort" bottle could get tooth decay, but 63 percent thought that cavities were not a problem in baby teeth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Dental Sciences, University of British Columbia.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ewan
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Phung
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000009:adverse effects; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008892:Milk; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014744:Vietnam / Q000208:ethnology