Association between sleep patterns and early childhood caries in 3-4-year-old children: A cross-sectional study.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the sleep practices of children and their association with early childhood caries (ECC) at three different age periods. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the sleep practices, feeding practices, and oral hygiene practices of children during nighttime from 0 to 2 years of age. A survey among 550 mothers of children aged 3-4 years with ECC (n = 275) and without ECC (n = 275) was conducted using a pretested and validated questionnaire. The three practices (sleep practices, feeding practices, and oral hygiene practices) of children at 0-3 months, 4-11 months, and 1-2 years of age were recorded and analyzed. Results: Risk factors associated with ECC at 0-3 months of age were gender (odds ratio [OR]: 0.59, 0.36-0.98), no previous dental visit (OR: 2.30, 1.15-4.59), bedtime (OR: 3.54, 2.01-6.25), and intentional feeding practice at night (OR: 1.83, 1.0-3.35). At 4-11 months of age, no previous dental visit (OR: 3.28, 1.66-6.49), mother's education (OR: 0.42, 0.23-0.76), frequent night wakes (OR: 5.98, 1.89-19.21), and intentional feeding practice at night (OR: 111.09, 32.25-382.68) and, at 1-2 years of age, no previous dental visit (OR: 2.37, 1.45-3.88), intentional feeding practice at night (OR: 19.12, 9.09-40.21), and breastfeeding for more than 2 years (OR: 14.56, 7.17-29.56) were associated with ECC. Conclusion: Lack of previous dental visit and intentional feeding at night were the common risk factors associated with ECC in children.

Effectiveness of distraction techniques in the management of anxious children - A randomized controlled pilot trial.

AIM: The aim was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two distraction techniques, magic trick and mobile dental game with tell-show-do (TSD) in the management of anxious children. METHODOLOGY: Two hundred and thirty children aged 4-5 years were screened for their baseline anxiety using the Chotta Bheem-Chutki scale. A double-blinded randomized control trial was conducted among 60 children with high anxiety scores. They were randomly divided into three groups. Group 1 received a magic trick distraction technique. Group 2 received a mobile dental game distraction technique. Group 3, the control group received TSD. Readiness to accept the dental treatment and postoperative anxiety scores were recorded. RESULTS: Statistically significant reduction in the anxiety level was seen in children who received magic (P = 0.001), mobile dental game (P < 0.001), and TSD technique (P < 0.001). Based on the readiness to accept dental treatment, there was a statistically significant difference between the three groups (P = 0.025). The children in the mobile group were found to accept the treatment faster compared to the magic and TSD groups. CONCLUSION: All three techniques were equally effective in reducing the anxiety of children. The mobile dental game was superior to magic trick and TSD in terms of children's readiness to accept dental treatment.