The aim of this study was to reassess and confirm the relationship between early childhood caries (ECC) and manifestations of psychomotor deficiency in 4-6-yr-old kindergarteners, which has remained elusive to date. A cross-sectional study with bi-township analysis was designed whereby 353 kindergarteners, aged 4-6 whose caries were greater (dmft (decayed, missing and filled teeth, dmft index) = 5.25) than that of the national average, located in a rural township of central Taiwan were recruited using simple random-selection. Besides the personal, demographic, and dietary information, the measurements for caries and the amended comprehensive scales (CCDI) of children's psychomotor development were used to address their relationship. One-way ANOVA vs. multiple linear regression were employed to compare the differences of variables between age, gender, BMI (Body Mass Index), and dmft scores vs. relationships among all variables, respectively. The results confirmed that there was a positive relationship between severe ECC (dmft > 3~8) and psychomotor deficiency (i.e., expressive language and comprehension-concept scales, etc.) amongst the kindergarteners analyzed. Our cross-sectional bi-township analysis has confirmed that there is indeed an association between severe ECC and psychomotor deficiency in kindergarteners, and we suggest that this may arise through critical stages of growth, not only via personal language communications, but psycho-social engagements as well. Therefore, a new hypothesis is proposed.
Keywords: CCDI vs. MCDI; pre-school children; psychomotor vs. language development; severe childhood caries (ECC) and dmft scores.