Anitha Jayakumar, Deepa Gurunathan

Abstract

The iron supplements can reduce the bacterial colonization and biofilm formation; they can also reverse the carious process and reduce the incidence of caries in animals. Hence, this study was carried out to determine the association between the ferritin level and the severity of early childhood caries (ECC) in children of age <72 months. A total of 114 children aged <72 months of age were recruited for this study. Oral examination was done to assess the severity of ECC based on Wayne’s classification. Following the parental consent, children underwent blood investigation for the estimation of ferritin level. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 23 versus software. Unpaired sample t-test was performed to determine the significance in the ferritin levels between case and control groups, and one-way ANOVA test was performed for the multivariate analysis. In the study, the mean value of ferritin level in case group is 28.22 ± 20.65, and the control group is 37.40 ± 24.20. The ferritin levels are lower in children with ECC than the children without ECC. On comparing the ferritin levels among the severity of ECC groups, severe ECC group has lower ferritin levels. However, there is no statistical difference (P: 0.069) between the three groups. The physicians and dentists should be aware of this oral-systemic relationship and consider S-ECC as a risk marker of anemia. Further studies with larger samples should be carried out for confirming the findings.