http://lattes.cnpq.br/0179448509717675; LIMA, Dayane Silva.
Resumo:
Introduction: Dental caries is considered a public health problem, requiring actions to resolve
the consequences of this desease. Objective: to evaluate feeding practices and associeted factors
in babies aged 0 to 24 months assisted by the Early Childhood Care Program in the city of
Patos/Paraíba. Material and Method: The descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study was
carried out with 73 pairs of babies and mothers who live in conditions of extreme social
vulnerability. Data collection was carried out in two stages, which comprised: a semi-structured
interview with the mothers in order to obtain information about demographic factors, of the
family nucleus, oral health care, acess to dental services and infant feeding practices; and the
intra-oral clinical examination to assess the oral health condition of babies. The simplified
ICDAS index was adopted to acess the activity of the lesion and identify the severity of the
disease (initial, moderate and severe). The statistical software SPSS® (Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences) version 21.0, was used to obtain relative and absolute frequencies and
bivariate statistical tests (chi-square). The study was approved by CEP/ CFP/UFCG (nº
6.035.163). Results: The consumption of breast milk was a practice observed in the first months
of life, being replaced by the consumption of milk thickened with a thickener. The practice of
healthy eating was observed as complementary in most of the sample, however the consumption
of processed/ultra-processed foods was present in the babies’ diet. Although the consumption
of free sugar was observed, most babies had a low cariogenic diet. The prevalence of the desease
in the studied sample was 23.8%. Conclusion: The present study found that despite social
vulnerability, the prevalence of dental caries was low in the studied population, however early
exposure to sugar was a frequent eating practice, supporting the need to adopt preventive
measures to delay or reduce the experience of caries in early childhood.