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Early Childhood Caries ( Ecc )

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Chapter 1 Early childhood caries (ECC), which is commonly known as tooth decay among children younger than 6 years of age, is currently affecting nearly half of the United States 5-year-olds, despite it being highly preventable (Hirsch, Edelstein, Frosh, Anselmo, 2012). No mother wants their children to be prone to dental decay or make them suffer from this disease if it is not necessary. According to Kawashita, Kitamura, Saito, and Corporation (2011), “Children experiencing caries as infants or toddlers have a much greater probability of subsequent caries in both the primary and permanent dentitions.” The problem with early childhood caries starts with lack of parental education and poor oral hygiene. ECC, can be referred to as “baby bottle tooth decay” and many parents don’t realize how detrimental it can be for the baby’s oral health or maybe don’t even realize that they have been putting their baby at risk. I am doing this research to explore whether it is better for the baby to receive milk out of a bottle or to breastfeed in relation to early childhood caries. I also want to give uneducated parents effective ways to prevent and treat ECC, if it does happen to occur. I gathered the information for my research from peer reviewed websites on google scholar. I want to become more educated on the subject to explain to my patients who are expecting what precautions they should be aware of and hopefully prevent future risk of early childhood caries for their infants.

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