Early Childhood Caries and its Prevalence among the Preschool Children’s Attending the Anganwadi’s at Ukkali Vijayapura District, Karnataka India

Abstract

Introduction: Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is a preventable chronic disease which is mainly affecting infants and children worldwide. The early identification and detection of ECC can reduce pain, life threatening conditions and helps in the growth and the overall development of the child. Aim: To find out the prevalence of Early childhood caries (ECC) among the children attending the Anganwadi’s of Ukkali Vijayapur district, and its relationship with parent’s education, occupation, socio economic status of the family with feeding habits and early oral hygiene mentions. Materials and Method: Community based cross sectional study among the selected Anganwadi’s children of 1-5 years of age at Ukkali district Vijayapura. Result: A total 142 subjects, 34 children were found to be having ECC, 57(40.1%) males and 85 (59.9%) females. A significant association was found in these study with the age of the children, breast feeding duration and the oral hygiene proposes, out of 142 cases 34 cases were having ECC therefore the prevalence of ECC was 23.9%. Conclusion: Future health promotion and education programs in Anganwadi’s should include oral health issues and the risk factors for ECC, and its consequences should be addressed.