Amal Elamin|Malin Garemo|Alex Gardner
Dental caries and their association with socioeconomic characteristics, oral hygiene practices and eating habits among preschool children in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — the NOPLAS project
Zayed University|Zayed University|University of Western Australia
dental caries global public health problem influence overall health children risk factors caries include biological sociobehavioral environmental factors crosssectional study assessed dental caries associations socioeconomic factors oral hygiene practices eating habits among emirati nonemirati children abu dhabi united arab emirates uaethe stratified sample comprised children aged 18 months 4 years recruited 7 nurseries world health organization decayed missing filled teeth index dmft used analyze dental status children parents completed questionnaire regarding demographics food consumption oral habits study approved research ethics committee zayed university uae zu15029fa total 186 children mean age 246 years 462 emirati participated overall 41 children dental caries mean dmftsd 170 281 mean sd decayed component dt 168 280 mean sd filled component ft 002 019 emirati children showed higher mean dmft plaque index significant carries index values nonemirati children p 0000 low maternal education rural nursery location infrequent toothbrushing frequent consumption highsugar food items emirati nationality factors significantly associated dental cariesin study 4 10 nursery children found dental caries sociodemographic factors dietary oral health habits associated dental caries effective oral health interventions tailored improve eating habits dental screening children age group imperative mitigate concerns