HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Broadbent, J.M. Articles by Williams, S.M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Broadbent, J.M. Articles by Williams, S.M.

Does Caries in Primary Teeth Predict Enamel Defects in Permanent Teeth? A Longitudinal Study

¹ Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, PO Box 647, Dunedin, New Zealand;
² Discipline of Dental Public Health and Epidemiology, Department of Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; and
³ Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand;

^* corresponding author, jonathan.broadbent{at}stonebow.otago.ac.nz

The notion that caries in primary teeth causes developmental defects of enamel in permanent teeth has been recently revived. The research objective was to test this hypothesis through analysis of data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a longstanding prospective cohort study. The maxillary incisors of 663 children were assessed for existing restorations and dental caries at age five and for developmental defects of enamel at age nine. Where a primary tooth had been carious, the permanent successor was more likely to have a demarcated opacity after adjustment for gender, family socio-economic status, years of exposure to water fluoridation, trauma to primary teeth, and early loss of primary teeth (unadjusted OR = 2.3, 95% CI 1.3, 4.1; adjusted OR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.1, 4.3). These findings support a time-ordered association between dental caries in primary maxillary incisors and demarcated opacities in their permanent successors.

KEY WORDS: caries • enamel defect • longitudinal study