Twenty-five percent of First Nations children in First Nations communities who were breastfed had early childhood caries*, compared with 29% of those who were bottle fed.

Those children who were breastfed for 6 months or more were less likely to have early childhood caries than were those who were breastfeed for less than 6 months.

Twenty-nine percent of children who were bottle fed had early childhood caries compared with 11% of those who were not bottle fed.

One-third of children who were obese had early childhood caries compared with 24% of those who were overweight and 23% of those who were a normal weight or underweight.

For more information please see the Early childhood tooth decay factsheet developed by the National Collaborating Centre on Aboriginal Health and the Canadian Paediatric Society’s Position Statement on Early Childhood Caries in Indigenous Communities.

*Early childhood caries (ECC) is defined as the presence of tooth decay involving any primary tooth in a child younger than six years of age.¹ ECC is also referred to as early childhood tooth decay in the vernacular (and formerly called baby bottle tooth decay).²

¹American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Definition of early childhood caries (ECC). Pediatr Dent 2005;27(7 Reference Manual):13. http://www.aapd.org/media/policies_guidelines/p_eccclassifications.pdf-accessed July 27, 2017.
²Position Statement – Early Childhood caries in Indigenous communities. 2016. Canadian Paediatric Society. JD Irvine, S Holve, D Krol, R Schroth; Canadian Paediatric Society, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health Committee. http://www.cps.ca/en/documents/position/oral-health-indigenous-communities-accessed August 5, 2017.