title: Early childhood caries and risk factors in rural Puerto Rican children.
abstract: A sample of 167 Puerto Rican children whose ages ranged from six months to forty-seven months (mean = 23 months) were studied. Children were examined for Early Childhood Caries with light and mirror and a structured interview was administered to parents and caretakers to identify risk factors. Results indicated that only 37.4 percent of the children were free of decalcification lesions or frank decay. While 53.9 percent of the children had lesions on maxillary incisors, 40.0 percent had molars affected by decalcification lesions and caries. Analysis of risk factors indicate that giving the baby a bottle when crying at night, number of adults and children in the family, use of fluoridated dentifrice, and age of the child were associated with the caries process in these children. Bottle and breast feeding, per se, were not risk factors. Disease patterns suggest other dietary risk factors, such as frequent snacking on food/drinks with sugar.
authors.affiliation: University of Puerto Rico.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lopez Del Valle
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Velazquez-Quintana
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Weinstein
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Domoto
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leroux
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000009:adverse effects; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D015995:Prevalence; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D017001:Tooth Demineralization / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology