Aim: To determine the pattern of caries in Nigerian pre-school children and to identify the effect of age, gender, socio-economic status, oral hygiene status, tools used in tooth cleaning and the frequency of tooth cleaning on the children's caries experience.
Method: A cross sectional study involving children between the ages of 6 and 71 months with a questionnaire was administered to elicit socio-demographic information on each child. Information was also provided about the type of oral hygiene tool used by each child and the frequency of tooth cleaning each day. An intra-oral examination was conducted to assess dental caries (dmft) and oral hygiene status. A diagnosis of rampant caries, caries or no caries was also made.
Statistics: Logistic regression was used to assess the effect of age, socioeconomic status, gender, birth rank, tooth cleansing methods, tooth cleansing frequency, tooth cleansing tool and oral hygiene status on the occurrence of rampant, molar and maxillary anterior caries of each study subject.
Results: Forty one (10.5%) of the 389 preschool children examined had caries. The odds a second mandibular primary molar being carious was 4 times greater than having a second maxillary molar carious. The age and oral hygiene status had significant impact on the dmft. Also the odds of having rampant caries increasing almost 4 fold with every score increase in oral hygiene status.
Conclusions: There appears to be no significant age related caries distribution pattern in Nigerian preschool children. The second primary molars appear to be more susceptible to caries in preschool children in Nigeria. The oral hygiene status appears to be a risk factor for rampant caries in these children.