TY - JOUR ID - TI - Nutritional Status among a Group of Preschool Children in Relation to Concentration of Selected Elements in Saliva and Caries Severity (A Comparative Study) AU - Shahba’a Munther شهباء منذر AU - Ali Y. Majid علي يحيى ماجد PY - 2016 VL - 28 IS - 1 SP - 147 EP - 152 JO - Journal of baghdad college of dentistry مجلة كلية طب الاسنان بغداد SN - 18171869 23115270 AB - Background: Nutritional status during childhood is very important for individual development and growth. Nutritionhas local and systemic effect on the oral health by affecting dental health and salivary composition. This study wasaimed to determine effect of iron, sodium and potassium ions in saliva on the nutritional status and to determine theeffect of nutritional status on caries severity among preschool children.Material and Methods: The sample consists of 90 children aged 4 and 5 years of both genders, selected from 6kindergartens in Al-Resafa aspect of Baghdad province. Children classified according to their nutritional status intothree groups (normalweight, underweight and overweight). Nutritional status was determined by using body massindex BMI that achieved from height and weight (weight (Kg)/height (m)2). Assessment and recording of cariesexperience was done by the application of decayed, missing, filled index (dmfs for primary teeth). The diagnosis ofdental caries was done according to (d1-4 mfs) criteria for primary teeth. Stimulated saliva was collected fromchildren between 9-11 AM under standardized conditions and chemically analyzed to determine the concentrationof iron, sodium and potassium calorimetrically by using ready-made kits and spectrophotometer machine. Datawere analyzed using SPSS version 19.Results: Concentration of sodium, potassium and iron ions were (46.64 mg/dl ± 18.00, 31.22 mg/dl ± 9.84, 17.76μg/dl ±3.17) respectively. From the elements measured in saliva only sodium ions recorded statistically significant differenceamong the three groups of nutritional status. By application of LSD, the significant difference was found to bebetween normal weight and overweight groups (46.33 mg/dl ± 17.18, 40.64 mg/dl ± 14.79) respectively (P<0.05).Furthermore, positive and statistically significant correlations were recorded between sodium ions with BMI mean ofoverweight group on one hand (r=- 0.125, P<0.05) and iron ions and normal weight group on other hand (r=0.362,P<0.05). Recording and diagnosis of dental caries showed that means of ds, ms, dmfs, d2s and d4s were significantlyhigher among children aged 5 years than those aged 4 years. In addition to that means of ds, ms, dmfs and d2s weresignificantly differ among the three groups of nutrition. Application of LSD test showed that those means were higheramong underweight group than others.Conclusion: Concentration of sodium ions in saliva changed according to nutritional status. On the other handnutritional status may affect caries severity, where underweight children suffering from dental caries more thannormalweight and overweight children.

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