Early Childhood Caries in Tirana, Albania

Introduction: Early Childhood Caries(ECC)is a destructive form of dental caries which appears to infants immediately after eruption of primary teeth. Aim: Determine the prevalence and severity of ECC in children 3-5 years old in the public kindergartens of the city of Tirana and evaluate the association between risk factors and early childhood caries. Methods: 4 out of 42 public kindergartens in Tirana were randomly selected. Children 3-5 years old (n=904) were included in this study.Information was obtained through structured questionnaires that were completed by parents and intraoral examination of children. Screening, diagnosis and recording of the subjects in this study were obtained according to WHO criteria. Results: The prevalence of ECC in children 3-5 years old in public kindergartens in Tirana was 91% (823/904).Most of the children (62.1%) suffered severe ECC with a mean deft 6.45 (SD±4.25.The results showed significant association between main risk factors and ECC. Conclusions: The prevalence of ECC and the mean deft are very high in preschool children of Tirana.To prevent ECC, some preventive strategies should be drawn up as soon as possible.