Objectives To determine the association between developmental dental anomalies (DDA), early childhood caries (ECC) and oral hygiene status of 3-5-year-old children resident in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Methods We analyzed a household survey and clinical examination data collected to determine the association between ECC and maternal psychosocial wellbeing. The outcome variables for the study were ECC and poor oral hygiene. The explanatory variable was the presence of developmental dental anomalies (supernumerary, supplemental, mesiodnes, hypodontial, macrodontial, microdontia, peg-shaped lateral, dens evaginatus, dens invaginatus, talons cusp, fusion/germination, hypoplasia, hypomineralized second molar, fluorosis, amelogenesis imperfecta). The prevalence of each anomaly was determined. Poisson regression analysis was conducted to determine the association between presence of developmental dental anomalies, ECC and oral hygiene status. The model was adjusted for sex, age and socioeconomic status.
Results Of the 918 children examined, 75 (8.2%) had DDA, 43 (4.7%) had ECC, and 38 (4.1%) had poor oral hygiene. The most prevalent DDA was enamel hypoplasia (3.9%). Of the 43 children with ECC, 6 (14.0%) had enamel hypoplasia and 3 (7.6%) had hypomineralized second primary molar. There was a significant association between ECC and enamel hypoplasia (p<0.001) and a borderline association between ECC and hypomineralized second primary molars (p=0.05). The proportion of children with poor oral hygiene (PR: 2.03; 95% CI: 0.91-4.56; p=0.09) and ECC (PR: 2.02; 95% CI: 0.92-4.46; p=0.08) who had DDA was twice that of children with good oral hygiene and without ECC respectively, although the differences did not reach statistical significance.
Conclusion For a population with a high prevalence of enamel hypoplasia and hypomineralized second primary molars, screening for these dental anomalies may be a strategic public health response to reduce the risk of children for ECC.