Do Anthropometric Nutritional Indicators Predict Early Childhood Caries? Evidence from Community Health Screening

Background: On a global scale, early childhood caries (ECC) remains the most prevalent chronic disease in the pediatric population.

Objective: To evaluate whether anthropometric indicators of nutritional status independently predict dental caries prevalence among children attending community health screening camps.

Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,177 children at community health screening camps after ethical approval. Data on demographics, anthropometric parameters (weight and height), and dental caries (dmft/DMFT index) were collected and analysed using Chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression.

Results: The prevalence of dental caries was 38.4%. Most children (72.7%) were aged 4–6 years, and 87.1% had normal BMI-for-age. Age group showed a significant association with caries prevalence (p < 0.001). Children aged 4–6 years had lower odds of caries compared to those aged 1–3 years (AOR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.20–0.66). No significant association was observed between caries and BMI-for-age, acute malnutrition, or chronic malnutrition. Chronic malnutrition showed a borderline association with higher caries severity.

Conclusions: Anthropometric nutritional indicators, including BMI-for-age, were not independently associated with early childhood caries in this community-screened population. Age emerged as the strongest determinant of caries occurrence. These findings suggest that growth-based nutritional measures alone may have limited value in predicting caries risk, highlighting the need for integrated dietary and behavioural assessments within community health screening programmes.