Early childhood caries: experience in Nigerian children at Lagos.

UNLABELLED: Objective of the paper was to assess the prevalence of Early Childhood Caries among Nigerian children aged 6 months to 5 years, describe the pattern and relate it to the socioeconomic status of their parents/guardians. METHODS: It was a descriptive study carried out in three randomly selected local government areas in Lagos State. Questionnaires designed to provide information on the socio-economic status of the parents were completed by one of the authors. All the children were examined using sterile instruments for the presence of early childhood caries. RESULTS: The prevalence of early childhood caries amongst the children was 10.5%, among them 4.8% had severe early childhood caries. Early childhood caries was observed in children as early as 13 months. The primary incisors were most affected. Only 17 (4.4%) had visited the dentist. CONCLUSION: There was a tendency towards higher caries level in children of higher socio-economic status. Preschool children had great demand for restorative care.