Prevalence of Early Childhood Caries in a Population of Children with History of Maltreatment

Abused and neglected young children had higher levels of tooth decay than the general population of 5-year-olds in Toronto (30 percent prevalence, mean dt= 0.42, SD = 1.20, n = 3185). However, this study did not find any difference in ECC prevalence between children with different types of maltreatment. The study did find that CAST services had a protective effect on children's oral health, which supports the recommendation that child protection services should investigate possible dental neglect in physical/sexual abuse and neglect cases.