Influence of diet patterns on time of emergence of permanent teeth of children of Quetta, Pakistan

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of meat, vegetable, rice, and milk on the emergence of permanent teeth in children from Quetta city of Baluchistan province of Pakistan. METHODS: This clinical cross-sectional study is part of a nationwide project, funded by Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, was conducted in Larkana, Peshawar, Lahore, and Quetta cities of Pakistan. The project was completed and submitted to HEC in March 2019. Twenty-five schools (14 public; 11 private sectors) of Quetta were selected from the list of schools using systematic random sampling. Children were selected from the classes with at least one 'just erupted tooth’. Status of the eruption of each tooth, height, weight, demographic information, and consumption of food items: meat, rice, vegetable, and milk in their family were recorded for each selected student. RESULTS: Out of 1267 children fulfilling the criterion of 'just erupted' tooth’, 703 (55.5%) were males. Mean of age, weight, height, and body mass index were 9.5±2.3 years, 27.9±10.4 kg, 131.7±14.3 cm, and 15.5±3.5 kg/m2, respectively. The minimum and maximum values of the 1st quartile, median, and 3rd quartiles of time of eruption belonged to tooth numbers #16 and #17, respectively. Twenty out of 28 teeth showed early eruption in females than males, however, only four were statistically significant (p<0.05). Frequent users (≥4 days/week) of meat, rice, and milk showed early eruption of 68%, 61%, and 71% of the teeth respectively. CONCLUSION: Children from Quetta showed early eruption of permanent teeth among frequent users of rice, meat, and milk products.

Keywords

• children
• baluchi children
• balochistan
• diet
• eruption time
• tooth
• permanent tooth
• dentition
• quetta children
• diet effects
• emergence of teeth
• dentition, permanent