Associations between a history of breast feeding, malocclusion and parafunctional habits in Puerto Rican children

Studies relating breast-feeding, malocclusion and parafunctional habits in young children are scarce. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the associations of a history of breast-feeding, incidence of malocclusion and parafunctional habits. METHODS: The dental records of a sample of 540 children aged 6 to 72 months screened for oral conditions and behavioral risk factors were evaluated for variables such as a history of breastfeeding, malocclusion and parafunctional habits. Descriptive statistics using the EPI-INFO Program and Chi-square test at the 0.05 level of probability were performed. RESULTS: The results showed that the mean age of the children was 28 months +/- 14. The mothers' mean age was 26.4 years +/- 6. The prevalence of breast-feeding was 34with a mean breast-feeding time period of 3 m +/- 3.7. About 95of the children had a history of bottle-feeding and 90showed some evidence of malocclusion at the time of dental examination. The main malocclusion problems were space deficiency (closed contacts among incisors) (31), open bites (6) and crossbites (5). A habit of thumb sucking was reported in 32of the cases and pacifier use in 21. there were significant differences for the following variables: mother's age and breast-feeding time period; number of children in family and breast-feeding time period; breast-feeding history and breast-feeding time with bottle use, malocclusion and thumb sucking habit; and gender and thumb-sucking habit. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that breast-feeding practices and time period are behavioral factors that contribute in the prevention of malocclusion in addition to decreasing the practice of parafunctional habits in preschool children.

La Odontología en España: Hacia la Integración en el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior / Odontology in Spain: towards the integration to the European high education space

The European Higher Education Space (EHES) is a project to harmonize all the European University systems in order that all of them will posses a homogeneous structure of undergraduate, graduate and post graduate studies. The time period established to implement this project is year 2010. The present paper describes the establishment of a new career degree model in Spain, the degree in Dentistry that started twenty years ago. Also it has been stated the number of the present Departments and Schools, the access system to Public University Schools of Spain, the evaluation system, and which are the new mechanisms incorporated in the Spanish University system to implement this integration to the EHEE. This is the moment to design the new master guidelines to obtain homogeneous career degrees that may imply more accessibility and mobility of students and professionals.

Early childhood caries and risk factors in rural Puerto Rican children.

A sample of 167 Puerto Rican children whose ages ranged from six months to forty-seven months (mean = 23 months) were studied. Children were examined for Early Childhood Caries with light and mirror and a structured interview was administered to parents and caretakers to identify risk factors. Results indicated that only 37.4 percent of the children were free of decalcification lesions or frank decay. While 53.9 percent of the children had lesions on maxillary incisors, 40.0 percent had molars affected by decalcification lesions and caries. Analysis of risk factors indicate that giving the baby a bottle when crying at night, number of adults and children in the family, use of fluoridated dentifrice, and age of the child were associated with the caries process in these children. Bottle and breast feeding, per se, were not risk factors. Disease patterns suggest other dietary risk factors, such as frequent snacking on food/drinks with sugar.