The effect of dental rehabilitation on the body weight of children with early childhood caries.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of comprehensive dental rehabilitation on the percentile weight and percentile growth velocity of children with early childhood caries (ECC). METHODS The percentile weight categories of children with noncontributory medical histories and ECC were compared to caries free comparison patients, before and after comprehensive dental treatment under general anesthesia. RESULTS Prior to dental rehabilitation, test subjects' percentile weight categories were significantly less than that of comparison counterparts (P < 0.001). Of the ECC patients, 13.7% weighed less than 80% of their ideal weight, thereby satisfying one of the criteria for the designation of failure to thrive, while none of the comparison patients did so (P < 0.05). Following therapeutic intervention, ECC children exhibited significantly increased growth velocities through the course of the follow-up period (P < 0.001), reflecting the phenomenon of catch up growth. The average length of follow-up for the test and comparison groups were 1.58 and 1.36 years, respectively. At the end of the follow-up period there were no longer any statistically significant differences noted in the percentile weight categories of the test and comparison groups. CONCLUSION Comprehensive dental rehabilitation resulted in catch-up growth, such that children with a history of nursing caries no longer differed in percentile weights from comparison patients.