March 2009

Objectives: The aim of the study was to examine whether the removal of carious teeth affected children’s growth relative to that of a standard population. Design: Longitudinal prospective observational study. Setting: Manchester Dental Hospital (MDH), UK. Participants: Five and six year- old children who attended for extraction of carious teeth under general anaesthesia. Main outcome measure: Change in height, weight and BMI standard deviation scores during the six months after extraction of carious teeth. Methods and materials: The children’s dental caries levels, weight and height were measured prior to extraction using standard criteria and a single trained examiner and they were then re-measured six months later. The body mass index of the children was calculated and all measurements were converted to standard deviation scores (SDS) using the UK 1990 growth reference. Changes in growth SDS during the six months subsequent to the extractions were then calculated. Results: Two hundred and eighteen children, mean (range) age 5.9 (5-6) were examined initially, of whom 131 were successfully followed up a mean 7.1 (0.13) months later. The participants had a mean dmft of 7.18 (SD 3.27) at baseline and were not shorter than expected (8.3% <10th percentile), or more underweight (6.9% <10th percentile for weight). At follow up children showed a statistically significant gain in BMI SDS (mean (SD) 0.26 (37) p<0.001) and a small gain in height SDS (0.05 (0.38) p=0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that the extraction of carious teeth in five and six year old children promotes weight gain and possibly growth. Key Words: childhood, dental caries, growth.