Risk factors for predicting early childhood caries in Anganwadi children in Bangalore city: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Preschool oral health is an overlooked aspect of childhood health and well-being. Early childhood caries (ECC) is an infectious and multifactorial disease of the childhood. Several factors play a role in the etiology of disease. Aim: To predict the risk factors for occurrence of ECC in children aged 3–6 years of Anganwadi centers. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study consisting of 3009 children aged 3–6 years attending Anganwadi centers of Bangalore South. Required and relevant information regarding feeding practices and oral hygiene practices were obtained. Multivariate regression analysis was performed for statistical analysis. Results: The prevalence of ECC was 31.4% with mean decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) of study population is 1.15 ± 2.28. Mean DMFT among males and females were 1.31 ± 2.48 and 1.01 ± 2.07, respectively. Habit of bottle feeding in the night (P < 0.001 and odds ratio [OR] of 1.32), in between meal, snacks (P < 0.001 and OR of 1.24) were the risk factors for caries in this study. Conclusions: The present study provides an insight regarding the risk factors involved in predicting ECC in children