The relationship among oral condition, food intake and growth in preschool children

• Main Authors: Yu-Hsien Lee, 李育嫻
• Other Authors: Tien-Yu Shieh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/59636862166426781295

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 口腔衛生科學研究所碩士班 === 92 === Abstract Background: According to the investigation of the oral condition of the children from 6 to 18 years old by the Department of Health in 2000 indicated the average DMFT(12) was 3.31, and the prevalence of caries was 66.5%. Besides, the deft(6) was 5.29, and the prevalence of caries was 89.5%. We have not reached the goal made for the world by WHO. The preschool children are especially far away from it. The main reason of this condition lies in parents’ negligence about the oral condition of their children, because they think deciduous teeth will replace by permanent ones sooner or later; therefore, they don’t really pay attention to children’s oral hygiene and ignore the serious result which may be caused by child oral disease. Objective: Our study aimed at evaluating the relationship among oral condition, food intake and growth of the preschool children. Methods: Our study focused on preschool children aged from four to six years of the kindergarten in Tainan and Kaohsiung city. We examined the children’s oral condition, and growing condition and used a questionnaire of food intake to record the eating frequency of 37 kinds of foods. Results: Three hundred and twenty seven children participated in our study, including 177 boys (54.1%) and 150 girls (45.9%). There was no significant difference between boys and girls with regard to caries index. However, the number of their caries increased with their age. We also found that the children whose mothers with higher education level had fewer caries. Besides, the average height of the children with more than four decay (106.5cm) was significantly shorter than children with no decay (108.4cm) and children with less decay (108.3cm). The average weight of the children who had more than four decay (17.6kg) was significantly lighter than children had no decay (18.7kg) and children with less decay (18.9kg). The proportion of children who did not reach the ideal body height (11.1%) and weight (12.7%) percentile was significantly higher among those children with more than four decay. Moreover, the average deft index of those children who had sweet food and drinks fewer than three times per day was 1.7, which was significantly lower than those the average deft index of those children who did more than three times. Conclusion: Children who had more than four decay were significantly shorter and thinner compared to those children who had no or less decay. Besides, the proportion of children who did not reach the ideal body height and weight percentile was significantly higher among those children with more than four decay. We found that the relationship among oral condition, food intake and child growth through our study result. It is recommended that parents need to understand the importance of deciduous teeth. They should realize that the deciduous teeth are not temporary teeth and bad oral health may have great influence on children’s growth. Key words: preschool children, caries, body growth