Introduction: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a special form of caries that affects decideous teeth with rapid progression and numerous complications.
Objective: The aim of the study was to define the prevalence of ECC in children of the South Backa area, the importance of social environment for the prevalence and severity of ECC, and define the model for its prevention.
Methods: The survey was the cross-sectional analytical study in the 10% sample of children, aged 13-64 months, different sex, social status and human environment. Severity and prevalence of ECC were assessed by dental check-ups. The epidemiological data were obtained by the interview of parents. The tests of significant statistical differences were performed by the analysis variance and chi2 (p < 0.05) test, as well as interdependence of ECC and single characteristics that could be a predictor of the disease by the logistic regression.
Results: The prevalence of ECC was 30.5%. The highest disease frequency was found in children of male sex (35.1%), out of kindergardens (54.2%), in the third and the next born child in the family (46.9%) and in part-time employed mothers (47.2%) who had only elementary education (59.3%) and were poorly informed about oral health. The highest prevalence (47.1%) of ECC was found in children whose parents had the lowest income per month. Type 1 of ECC was the most presented one (75.0%).
Conclusion: The higher prevalence and more severe ECC were found in the third and the next born male child from rural environment.