Factors Associated with Caries and Deficient OHI-S DI-S in Preschool Children from Acapulco, Mexico

Abstract

Introduction. Caries is a multifactorial disease that appears from nine months of age. Caries prevalence in preschool children ranges between 24% and 63%. Objective. To estimate the prevalence of caries and oral hygiene and associated factors in preschool children from Acapulco, Mexico. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study was performed (September-November 2019), on 322 preschoolers from five public schools. Parents of the preschoolers responded to a face-to-face questionnaire, and the prevalence of caries and oral hygiene were estimated using the dmf index and ohi-s di-s through oral clinical examination. Trained and calibrated examiners (Kappa greater than 85%) performed the oral examination of preschoolers. Data analysis included simple frequencies of the relevant variables and estimation of the strength of association by bivariate and multivariate analysis by adjusted odds ratio (ora) with 95% confidence intervals adjusted for clustering effect (ci95%acl). Results. Caries prevalence was 73% (234/322). The dmf index was 2.78; the ohi-s di-s was good in 6% (19/322), fair in 76% (244/322), and poor in 18% (59/322) of preschoolers. The overall presence of biofilm was 52%, with a higher proportion in girls (59%) than in boys (43%), p < 0.01. Factors associated with caries were female gender (ora 2.62, ci95%acl 1.41-4.86) and frequent consumption of sugary drinks (ora 1.72, ci95%acl 1.01-2.92). Factors associated with poor ohi-s di-s were female gender (ora 1.92, ci95%acl 1.16-3.17) and overcrowding in the dwelling (ora 1.41, ci95%acl 1.18-1.68). Conclusion. The female gender was associated with a higher prevalence of caries and deficient ohi-s di-s. It was also found that the frequent consumption of sugary drinks was related to caries in preschool children. Reporting these results to parents or guardians is necessary to pay more attention to these population groups.