Objective:

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) among children at social risk and to analyze its associated determinants.

Method:

A cross-sectional study with 246 children aged 24 to 71 months, recruited from 13 different slums, below the poverty line, in Santiago, Chile was performed. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information from the parents on ethnicity, birth weight, mother’s age and education, night bottle feeding, tooth brushing and dental visits. Early childhood caries was defined using the American Academic of Pediatric Dentistry criteria. Multiple logistic regression analysis with a stepwise selection procedure was used to investigate the influence of risk factors on the early childhood caries experience.

Results:

The prevalence of early childhood caries was 63%. Bivariate analyses showed associations among ethnicity, mother’s education, bottle feeding at night, dental visits and caries experience. The final multivariate model showed that children whose mothers had a low level of education were more likely to develop early childhood caries.

Conclusions:

The children at social risk studied had a high prevalence of early childhood caries, with the education of the mother as the most important determinant.

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