Observational studyBMC oral health2025
Prevalence and determinants of early childhood caries among preschool children in district Shimla, North India: a cross -sectional study.
Observational study in BMC oral health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Situation and Factors Associated with Dental Caries Among Preschool Children in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Relationship between Demographic Characteristics, Dietary Habits, and Oral Hygiene Practices and the Prevalence of Early Childhood Caries among Preschoolers.International journal of clinical pediatric dentistry · 2026Article
- Early Childhood Caries in Preschool Children: A Multidimensional Analysis From Biological Mechanisms to Socioecological Interventions.Oral diseases · 2026Review
- Trends and prevalence of dental caries in children aged 3 to 5 years in Beijing, 2013 to 2023: a cross-sectional study.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- Oral health related quality of life in a group of Egyptian preschool children with early childhood caries: a cross-sectional study.BMC oral health · 2026Observational
- Development and evaluation of an early childhood caries prediction model: a deep learning-based hybrid statistical modelling approach.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2025Article
- Comparison of salivary statherin and beta-defensin-2 levels, oral health behaviors, and demographic factors in children with and without early childhood caries.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- Correlation between prevalence of dental caries and oral hygiene practices among children in Bhubaneswar city, India.Bioinformation · 2025Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundA high prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) has been reported in children over the past few decades making it a major health burden. The study investigated the prevalence of ECC and associated factors among the preschool children of Shimla district.
methodsAn observational cross-sectional study was carried out in various government and private preschools of district Shimla from July 2022 to November 2022 where children in the age group of 3-5 years were screened for ECC using the dmft index and their BMI (body mass index) and salivary pH was recorded. Information regarding socio-economic status (SES), feeding, dietary and oral hygiene habits were collected through questionnaire circulated to the parents. Prevalence of ECC was calculated. Association of various factors with ECC prevalence was done using chi square test and correlation of factors with prevalence of ECC was assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Binomial logistic regression analysis was performed to assess these variables for prevalence of ECC. The level of statistical significance was determined at p ≤ 0.05.
results1224 school children and their parents were included in the study. The overall prevalence and mean dmf score was 61.6% and 3.21 ± 3.92 respectively. Among these 57% children had caries at 3 years, 64.7% at 4 years and 69.5% at 5 years. Increasing age was associated with increasing prevalence of ECC (OR = 1.034, p = 0.006). The upper socio economic status was significantly associated with risk of ECC than other categories (p = 0.046). Decreasing salivary pH was associated with increased prevalence of ECC (OR = 0.656, p <. 001).
conclusionThe study demonstrated a high prevalence of ECC in the district along with setting the baseline data for the region. Increasing age, upper socioeconomic status and decreasing salivary pH are significantly associated in likelihood of caries whereas other factors like BMI, dietary and feeding and oral hygiene habits are also important factors which were directly or indirectly related to the burden of this disease. Efforts should be made to create more awareness and provide oral health care facilities to help keep the disease under control.
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