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Hindi Review Article
Early Childhood Caries: A Literature Review
Marcus HT Fung, May CM Wong, Edward CM Lo and CH Chu*
Department of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- *Corresponding Author:
- CH Chu
Prince Philip Dental Hospital
Hong Kong SAR, China
Tel: +85228590287
Fax: +85228582532
E-mail: chchu@hku.hk
Received Date: April 13, 2013; Accepted Date: May 28, 2013; Published Date: June 05, 2013
Citation: Fung MHT, Wong MCM, Lo ECM, CH Chu (2013) Early Childhood Caries: A Literature Review. J Oral Hyg Health 1:107. doi:10.4172/2332-0702.1000107
Copyright: © 2013 Fung MHT, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is defi ned as the presence of one or more decayed tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in children 71 months of age or younger. ECC is the most common chronic illness among children and adolescents. Studies have found caries prevalence among preschool children varies greatly in different countries, ranging from 17 to 94%. However, in most of the studies; over 90% of decayed teeth were left untreated. Caries progression can lead to pain and reduced ability to chew and eat, which may also lead to iron defi ciency due to malnutrition. Reduction of quality of life for children with ECC, resulting from disturbed sleeping and concentration problems, has been reported. Children with severe caries may experience reduced weight and delayed growth. This paper provides an updated literature review of ECC. The aetiology, clinical features, caries prevalence in recent literature, consequences of caries infection and management of ECC are discussed.
