ArticlePloS one2023
Prevalence and socio-behavioral determinants of early childhood caries in children 1-5- year- old in Iran.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dental caries burden across age groups in Kerman province, Iran (1992-2025): a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC oral health · 2026Pooled it
- Dental service utilization trends in rural and semiurban health centers of Isfahan, Iran (2016-2021): A retrospective descriptive study.Dental research journal · 2026Article
- Effects of maternal dental anxiety on the time of first dental visit and dental caries status of children.Journal of education and health promotion · 2026Article
- Evaluating Maternal Accuracy in Smartphone-Based Tele-Dentistry for Early Childhood Caries Detection.Clinical and experimental dental research · 2025Article
- Parental health belief and behavioral factors influencing oral health behaviors of preschoolers in shanghai: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), early childhood caries (ECC) is still considered a major global health problem despite the general improvement in oral health practice. This study aimed to assess ECC's prevalence, severity, and key social and behavioral determinants in Iranian children 1-5- years of age.
methodThis cross-sectional study recruited Iranian 1-5-year-olds with a three-stage stratified clustered sampling method. After providing consent, parents were interviewed using a validated questionnaire, including questions on child characteristics and behavioral factors. Each child underwent a dental examination by one of four trained and calibrated dentists. Associations between key covariates of interest and primary outcome measures were assessed by multivariable logistic regression modeling and multivariate generalized negative binomial regression modeling after weightings were applied. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS V25 and Stata V14.2 software packages. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.
resultsThe mean age of 909 participants was 41.1±1.2 months, 48.6% were male, and 38.1% lived in rural areas. The overall prevalence of ECC was 53.2% and mean dmft score was 2.7± 0.3. Key determinants associated with ECC included living rurally (p = 0.009, OR = 2.13), consuming sweet drinks, sugary snacks, or both [p-value = 0.02 (OR = 2.53), and p-value<0.001 (OR = 4.96), respectively], and visible plaque (p<0.001, OR = 3.41). Covariates associated with dmft scores included residing in rural regions (p = 0.02, IRR = 1.31), having both sugary snacks and sweet drinks (p = 0.02, IRR = 1.85) compared to those had none, and visible dental plaque (p<0.001, IRR = 2.06).
conclusionsThe prevalence of dental caries in children is high in Iran. The increase of ECC prevalence and severity from toddlers to preschoolers emphasizes on the critical importance of early interventions in toddlers. Improving access to care for rural children is essential along with the need to change dietary and self-care behaviors through multilevel efforts.
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