Correlation Between Iron Deficiency And (Severe) Early Childhood Caries

Early childhood caries（ECC）is the most common oral disease in preschool children.It is a global public health problem that continues to affect children.ECC affects children’s chewing,language,and aesthetic functions,affecting the eruption and development of permanent teeth,and even causing systemic diseases.Anemia caused by iron deficiency is a common systemic disease in preschool children,especially infants and young children.At present,there are few reports on the relationship between iron and young children and their interaction mechanisms.This study consists of two parts of the experiment:Part Ⅰ Investigation on the status of dental caries in preschool children in Qingdao Objective:Through investigating ECC in Qingdao,it was analyzed that the relationship between ECC and black stain,hemoglobin and BMI,in order to provide scientific evidence for preventing oral diseases in children.Methods:Two districts and 13 kindergartens were chosen in Qingdao based on cluster sampling and 1690 preschool children aged 3⁶ years were investigated.The oral health examination was conducted according to WHO standard,including the decayed-missing-filled index and black stain status,then the prevalence of caries,the mean dmft and the mean dmfs were calculated.At the same time,body height and weight of kids were measured,and BMI calculated,then grouped according to BMI_Z score;and the hemoglobin was detected.The correlation about dental stain,BMI and hemoglobin with dental caries in preschool children was analyzed.Results:The caries rate of deciduous teeth was 65.3%,the mean dmft was 3.2,the mean dmfs was 5.4 respectively.The differences in prevalence of caries among age groups were statistically significant（χ²=74.431,P<0.001）.The difference between caries and black stains in deciduous teeth was statistically significant（χ²=47.035,P<0.001）.There was no significant difference between deciduous teeth caries and BMI（χ²=0.673,P>0.05）.The hemoglobin content of caries children was lower than that of caries-free children（t=5.723,P<0.001）.The caries rate in children with anemia was 81.5%,which was much higher than that of children without anemia（65.8%）（χ²=4.134,P<0.05）.Conclusion:The prevalence of caries in preschool children is high in Qingdao,it is associated with the black stain and anemia,and children should be paid attention to balanced nutrition.It need further study the mechanism of black stain and anemia with ECC.Part Ⅱ Effect of iron on Streptococcus mutansObjective:To study the effects of different concentrations of ferric chloride（FeCl₃）on the growth of Streptomyces mutans.Methods:Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175 was inoculated into TSB medium containing different concentrations of FeCl₃,anaerobic cultured for 24 hours at 37°C,and the minimum inhibitory concentration（MIC）was calculated.The minimum bactericidal concentration（MBC）was interpreted.On the other hand,S.mutans was uniformly coated on TSA solid medium,and Oxford Cup containing different concentrations of FeCl₃ was placed,and cultured at 37°C for 24 hours under anaerobic conditions to compare the diameter of the inhibition zone.Results:The MIC and MBC of FeCl₃ solution against Streptococcus mutans were0.938%.With the decrease of FeCl₃ concentration,the diameter of the Oxford cup gradually decreased.Conclusion:With the increase of FeCl₃ concentration,the effect of inhibiting the growth of Streptococcus mutans is obvious.The high concentration of FeCl₃ solution can significantly inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans.In summary,iron deficiency is associated with S（ECC）.Exploring and studying the mechanism between iron and dental caries is very helpful for controlling iron deficiency anemia in preschool children in China,and it is more effective for implementation.It also has important guiding significance in the treatment of dental caries and the pathogenesis of dental caries.