Rampant early childhood dental decay: An example from Italy

Objectives: This study sought to estimate the prevalence and related predic tion factors for dental caries in 3- to 5-year-old children in Rome Italy. Methods: From a sample of 2,025 children, 1,494 (73.8%) were included in th e analysis. Children with at least two primary maxillary incisors showing e vidence of caries experience were considered affected by rampant early chil dhood dental decay (RECDD). Behavioral and socioeconomic variables, mutans streptococci counts, diet and nutritional status were investigated for thei r association withRECDD using regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of any caries was 27.3 percent, and was 7.6 percent for RECDD. Among all ch ildren, mean dft and dt scores per person were 1.1 (SD=2.4) and 0.9 (SD=2.3 ), respectively; among those classified as having RECDD, scores were 6.9 (S D=4.2) and 6.7 (SD=4.3)1 respectively. Children with RECDD had 56 percent o f all the decayed teeth in the sample. Low and medium social classes, use o f a baby bottle filled with sweetened beverages, high salivary mutans strep tococcal levels, and malnutrition were directly associated with RECDD; milk and yogurt consumption and low Plaque Index scores were inversely associat ed with the condition. Conclusions: The high prevalence of RECDD suggests t hat the implementation of preventive programs should be a priority for dent al public health. Because of its high prevalence among children as young as 3 years of age, preventive measures targeted toward pregnant women and tod dlers should be developed and tested while kindergarten students could be u sed for monitoring RECDD prevalence and for defection of communities at ris k.