The association between early dental caries and malnutrition in Nigeria: A scoping review.

Abstract

Background: Early Childhood Caries (ECC), also known as cavities or tooth decay, is a problem, especially in developing countries like Nigeria, and studies have shown that it is associated with malnutrition. This is because nutrition and diet play a significant role in the oral health and dental development of children. The review, therefore, was to explore various ways to show how early childhood caries is associated with malnutrition in Nigeria and ways to strengthen nutrition to reduce its prevalence in Nigerian children.

Methods: A scoping review of the literature published from 2019–2023 was conducted using four databases, CINAHL, PUBMED, BMC, and Google Scholar. To make this review precise and clear, further manual reference search were also undertaken. Also, for a comprehensive review, studies were screened for title and abstract as well as a full text review. More so, 5 out of 6 stages of Arksey and O ‘Malley ‘s framework for scoping reviews were adopted and followed. The data extracted for the purpose of this review were properly charted, categorised, and narratively synthesised. The PCC (Population, Concept, Context) mnemonic was also used to narrow searches.

Results: After screening against the exclusion and inclusion criteria, 13 studies were included. These studies provided information about early dental caries, particularly among Nigerian children, as it relates to their nutrition. These studies stated that dietary factors, especially the superfluous consumption of sugary snacks and beverages, contributed largely to early childhood caries (ECC), and its implications happened to be beyond the physical health of children. Some of the studies mentioned that poverty also causes ECC as it contributes to malnutrition, which in turn affects oral health. These studies further analyse the fact that Nigerian children, especially those in rural and suburban areas, are more susceptible to ECC than those in urban areas. The result further shows that despite having multiple studies on diet and dental caries in Nigerian children, there are still research and knowledge gaps.

Conclusion: This review highlights that improvements can be made through interventions in nutrition in Nigeria because there are many studies on nutrition and dental caries in children worldwide, especially in high-income countries, but the reverse is the case for Nigeria. Thus, the discussions presented in two of the articles provide insights into its significance as a crucial approach to combating ECC. This review demonstrates the feasibility of reducing the prevalence of ECC in Nigerian children via the implementation of effective nutrition intervention programmes, and it suggests that nutritional guidance, treatment in dentistry, and oral health programmes should be encouraged.