DOI: 10.36347/sjds.2023.v10i05.001

Pages: 77-85

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of selected dietary determinants on the prevalence and severity of Early Childhood caries (ECC), among a group of Lebanese preschool children. A total of 500 preschool children, age 3 to 5 years were chosen with stratified random sample technique with proportional allocation of the subjects, into different strata. Out of the 500 students chosen, 409 complied and returned the questioner and hence were included in the study. The study was performed in six schools distributed in different areas of Beirut, 3 private and 3 public schools. Every child was examined using a disposable plastic dental mirror under an adequate source of light. Early childhood caries was diagnosed as present when one or more decayed (non cavitated or cavitated lesions), missing (due to caries), or filled tooth surface on any primary tooth in children up to 71 months of age [1] was detected. The severity of ECC was classified according to Whyne AH (1999) [2] Type 1 ECC (mild to moderate); Type 2 ECC (moderate to sever); Type 3 ECC (sever). All eligible children were given a questionnaire to be filled at home by parents, and were returned by a specific date. Infant feeding practices included in the questionnaire were; history and duration of breast feeding, history and duration of bottle feeding, contents and frequency of bottle feeding, history of bottle feeding to sleep at night, history of bottle sipping during day, age of commencement at cup drinking, age of commencement of solids. The data were collected, tabulated and statistically analyzed, using package for social science "SPSS" version 13. The age of the study sample ranged from 3- 5 years with a mean 4.0 ± 0.9. About half of the sample was males (49.1%). The majority of children were in public schools (60.9%). Breast feeding was used for nursing 92.4% of the examined children while 77.3% of the children were bottle fed. About half of the children (54.7%) used the bottle for milk, ......