Risk factors for early childhood caries (systematic review)

Relevance. Early childhood caries remains the most common chronic disease in children, having a significant impact on society around the world.Objective. To study all risk factors for early childhood caries identified from 2004 to 2023.Material and methods. The review analyzed and searched the literature in the databases MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PubMed and E-library using the keywords: caries, early childhood caries, dental diseases, risk factors in English and Russian, respectively. In addition, we studied links to the studies relevant to the topic and manually searched the references for potentially suitable publications. The systematic review finally included randomized controlled trials, meta-analysis and systematic reviews to identify risk factors for caries onset in early childhood over the past decade. The final sample included 31 papers covering 16 countries and published from 2004 to 2023.Results. The results of the studies established the main risk factors for early childhood caries development (oral hygiene factors, social-demographic factors and dietary factors), identified temporary risk factors (complicated pregnancy, calcium intake during pregnancy), and determined insufficiently studied risk factors.Conclusion. The data of the included studies confirm the multifactorial nature of caries onset in early childhood and the lack of quantitative analysis among all currently known factors, which could significantly reduce caries prevalence due to the conceptual treatment model.