Caries among 3-year-olds in Greater Manchester

Objective To measure the prevalence of caries, including nursing caries, am ongst 3-year-old children in three districts of Greater Manchester in the N orth West of England. Design A cross-sectional survey of 762 randomly selected 3-year-old childre n using the dmft and dmfs indices. Three definitions of nursing caries were used hn order to assess the varying prevalence of the disease according to which definition was applied, Subjects Children, aged 36-48 months, attending day nurseries, playgroups a nd nurseries attached to primary schools were examined by three trained exa miners under standardised conditions in three health districts in Greater M anchester. A random selection process was used to produce a quota sample to reflect the balance of childcare provision in each district. Results The overall proportion of children affected by general caries was 3 2%. The mean dmft score was 1.4 (sd = 2.8) and the mean dmfs was 2.8 (sd = 7.3). There were significant differences across the three districts. The pr evalence of nursing caries varied widely when differing definitions of type s were applied; 1.6% of the children had nursing caries according to the na rrow definition, 7.2% showed the wider definition type and 9.8% had nursing caries of the broadest definition. In total 19% of children had caries whi ch affected their upper incisors. Children of Asian origin had the highest levels of nursing and overall caries. Conclusions Caries is a widespread problem in some very young children in t he districts involved. Caries of upper anterior teeth contributes significa ntly to the overall level of caries in each of the localities in question. The prevalence of nursing caries is highly dependent on the case definition used.