Environmental, socio-behavioural and biological predictors of early childhood caries: a rural birth cohort study

在澳大利亚，高达75%的儿童在5岁时患有蛀牙。在澳大利亚的农村地区，情况要严重得多，那里的供水中没有添加氟化物。此外，随着社会经济地位的降低，龋齿率也会上升。本研究旨在描述从出生到18个月的龋齿的自然历史。它还将检查这些婴儿所接触的环境、行为和生物学。这些数据以前从未被收集过，因此将为我们对幼儿蛀牙发展的认识和理解提供独特的贡献。这些数据对于制定预防蛀牙和解决保健不平等问题的干预措施至关重要。这项研究将在婴儿的牙齿进入口腔时进行检查，并收集父母和婴儿在出生后1、6、12和18个月时的问卷调查和唾液数据。这是维多利亚州西部农村地区（巴拉瑞特、阿拉拉特、斯塔维尔和霍舍姆）的妇幼保健护士与迪肯大学健康与社会发展学院、默多克儿童研究所和皇家儿童医院儿科牙科部、墨尔本大学、西澳大利亚大学、格里菲斯大学和昆士兰政府。该研究将通过提供关于早期儿童龋齿的自然历史、龋齿与风险和保护因素之间的关系以及这些因素对蛀牙的相对贡献的独特数据，对了解早期儿童龋齿做出重大贡献。此外，它还将包括量化微生物种群和临床龋齿结果的最新测量发展。国际上已要求全面采取这种做法，但尚未进行尝试。

In Australia, up to 75% of children have dental decay at five years of age. It is substantially worse in rural parts of Australia, where fluoride is not added to the water supply. Also, the rate of caries increases as socioeconomic status decreases. This study aims to describe the natural history of dental caries from birth to 18 months. It will also examine the environment, behaviours and biology that these infants are exposed to. This data has never been collected before and will therefore provide a unique contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the development of dental decay in young children. This data is crucial for the development of interventions to prevent dental decay and address health inequalities. The study will examine infants teeth as they come into their mouths and collect questionnaire and saliva data from parents and infants following birth at 1, 6, 12 and 18 months. It is a partnership between the maternal and child health nurses of the western rural areas of Victoria (Ballarat, Ararat, Stawell and Horsham) and a national team of child health, dental researchers and statisticians drawn from the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University, the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and The Royal Children's Hospital's Department of Paediatric Dentistry, The University of Melbourne, The University of Western Australia, Griffith University and the Queensland Government. The proposed study will make a substantial contribution to the understanding of early childhood caries by providing unique data on its natural history, the relationship between caries and risk and protective factors and the relative contribution of these factors to dental decay. Additionaly, it will include the latest measurement developments for quantifying microflora species and clinical caries outcomes. The comprehensiveness of this approach has been called for internationally, but has not yet been attempted.