FACTORS THAT IMPACT THE DEVELOPMENT OF DENTAL CARIES IN CHILDHOOD AND THE NEED FOR PREVENTION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

The World Health Organization considers tooth decay to be the most prevalent disease in childhood, representing a serious public health problem, stating that oral health is an indicator of the general health, well-being and quality of life of an individual and the population, and in this context, the literature points to the existence of an association between childhood caries and socioeconomic conditions. Therefore, this article aims to review the literature seeking to identify the factors that impact children's oral health that may be associated with food consumption. This is a systematic literature review, using the acronym PEO, searching for articles on scientific bases of reliability and based on the chosen descriptors, choosing the inclusion criteria, with articles published in the period from 2018 to 2023, caries in children under 6 years of age and Portuguese speaking; Exclusion criteria included studies with children over 6 years old, prior to 2018, in a foreign language and that were not related to dental issues. From the descriptors, use of the Boolean operator, exclusion of duplicates, reading of titles and abstracts, 13 articles remained for carrying out this systematic review, with four published in 2018, three in 2019, four in 2020, one in 2021 and one in 2023 , confirming the recent concern with the topic addressed. Regarding the type of study, most of the works used the transversal, descriptive, quantitative and qualitative method with six articles, three of the observational, analytical, transversal type, two exploratory, descriptive, quantitative and two of the literature review and narrative. The objective of the work revolved around the factors that favor the appearance of cavities in children, seeking to understand the prevalence, factors associated with social and economic determinants, and the level of knowledge of parents and professionals regarding behaviors and eating habits and the caries prevention in this age group. Studies have shown that the prevalence of caries in children is associated with oral health practices, eating habits with a high intake of cariogenic diet, and the level of knowledge of parents/guardians, which have a negative impact on their quality of life. The involvement of professionals who work in the health unit, in a multidisciplinary action, must be expanded; the education of parents/guardians related to children's oral health, even with the negative social determinants of low income and education, needs to be prioritized in order to be successful in building new oral hygiene practices and healthy eating habits, which are fundamental for the growth of children. children and to positively influence future health conditions.