Doença cárie e hábitos alimentares em crianças menores de 6 anos da área de abrangência do Centro de Saúde Leopoldo Crisóstomo de Castro

Abstract

On the early childhood the dietary habits and oral hygiene are formed, having great influence on caries development. This studys objective was to gather material for multiprofissional tasks based on the caries diagnosis on children under six years old from the Leopoldo Crisóstomo de Castro Health Center (LCCHC). This study was made on 20 children that looked for treatment. A clinical exam was made and the INTO was completed by the researcher. A questionnaire was given to the childrens parents after they agreed on having their kids to be part of the research. The questionnaire contained questions about the economical profile of the families into question, the oral hygiene and eating routine of thechild, and their general perception about buccal health. On the results we found out that 85% of the children were with caries. The children with caries were between 4 and 6 years old, the monthly income of their families were lower than 2 minimum-wages and 75% of their parentsdidnt made it through high school. None of these children were looked after by their mothers, they did the oral hygiene alone and 75% had some kind of systemic disease. Regarding their eating habits, 75% werent breast feeded, and they looked after dental care only after noticingsomething different. All of them said that they were oriented about oral hygiene by their dentist and didnt abandon the treatment once it started. 50% of them said that they didnt know about the importance ob buccal health on general health. Of the children that did not have caries, two thirds had at least one of the parents with high school completed, they were helped on doing their oral hygiene and their monthly income was lower than 3 minimumwages and they never came to LCCHC looking for help. Regarding their feeding habits, they were bottle feeded with sugar at night. Everyone gave great important to the role of buccal health over general health. It can be concluded that the value of dietary habits over caries incidence is complex and hardly measured, but when associated with cultural and economical factors, their relation is evident. A great number of actions will be planned and implemented, and their results will be tested to ensure that they were effective on the control of caries.