Prevalence of Early Childhood Caries (ECC) among the Children of Officer Dental Clinic Prince Sultan Military Medical City

Purpose of the study: The aim is to study the prevalence of ECC in 2 to 5-year-old children in officer dental clinics and to study the risk factors of ECC in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study adopted a cross-section research design. The primary dentition of 2-5 old children was evaluated with a mouth mirror in daylight on officer dental clinic. The sample size was made of 183 children. They were classified according to the severity of ECC. A questionnaire was given to the parents to know about the child’s feeding practices, socioeconomic status and awareness of dental care.

Results: The study determined the prevalence of ECC among the children of ages 2-5 years, which was approximately 62.8%. Most of the patients were of the age of 5 years. The socioeconomic status of many parents was good and the level of education was bachelor while the majority of their oral hygiene was fair. Many children received bottle feeding, with most of them commencing at the age of 2 years. From the test of hypothesis, age and type of carries had a difference, which was also the case between oral hygiene and level of education and oral hygiene and types of carries, while the level of education and type of carries did not make a difference.

Conclusion: The study was able to determine the prevalence of ECC among the children of ages 2-5 years, which was approximately 62.8%. The study also identified the social economic status of most parents in the country as being good. Most parents’ oral hygiene was determined to be fair, while children with five years were most affected. Some of the risk factors that parents should be looked unto include reducing sugary foods for their children.

Author(s): Badria Al Matrafi*, Saud AL Saif BDS, Sahar Al Mansouri, Dima Al Mutrafi, Jamilah Tawhari, Lujain AL Ghrorairi, Amjad AL Sogaih, Bader AlRajhi

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