Early childhood caries (ECC) and neglect in child care: analysis of an Italian sample.
OBJECTIVE
Dental caries was identified as the single most common chronic childhood disease; its prevention should be a priority for dentists. With the aim of describing the correlation between early childhood caries (ECC) and the phenomenon of child neglect, a questionnaire which recorded socio-economic and dental service use data was provided to a randomly chosen sample of parents at three pediatric health service centers in Bari (Italy).


METHODS
In order to evaluate the association among risk factors and ECC, contingency tables were created and the value of the Odds Ratio (OR) was calculated, indicating the confidence intervals and chi square values. A student's t-test for independent samples was performed to evaluate the differences between the averages. A value of p≤0.5 was considered to be significant for all tests used.


RESULTS
Of the 63 children examined, 61.9% (n=39; 95%CL=49.9- 73.9) presented with ECC, of which 47.6% (n=30; 95%CL=34.9-60.6) were classified as Wyne's Type I; 12.7% (n=8; 95%CL=5.6-23.5) were classified as Type II; and 1.6% (n=1; 95%CL=0-8.5) as Type III. Interestingly, the frequency of Types II and III were shown to be higher in low-income families (chi-square=8.50; p=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Dentists should recognize children's susceptibility to ECC and their exposure to risk factors for neglect, thus facilitating a primary prevention visit.
Section of Legal Medicine, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
A
A
Scorca
V
V
Santoro
A
A
De Donno
I
I
Grattagliano
S
S
Tafuri
F
F
Introna
D017668:Age of Onset; D002649:Child Abuse; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004037:Diet, Cariogenic; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology; D009058:Mouth Breathing; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D041361:Pacifiers / Q000009:adverse effects; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000453:epidemiology