Prevalence of Molar–Incisor Hypomineralization and Caries in Eight-Year-Old Children in Croatia

The aim of this study was to detect molar–incisor hypomineralization (MIH) and caries prevalence in eight-year-old children with early mixed dentition in Eastern Croatia. There is a lack of data on MIH in Croatia. There were 729 children examined in total: 356 (48.83%) were female and 373 (51.16%) were male. The presence of MIH was found in 95 children, the prevalence of MIH was 13%, and the remaining 634 (87%) did not have any changes associated with MIH. The prevalence of caries overall in the population of examined children was 11.48%. In the group of children with MIH, the prevalence of caries was 24.14%, while in the group of children with no MIH, the prevalence of caries was 11.18%. Teeth had a Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index of 1.2, the value of the SiC index was 1.4, and the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) index for deciduous teeth was 5.8. Children with MIH had a caries index of DMFT 2.1, and the value of the SiC index was 2.6. The index of caries for non-MIH children was DMFT 1.1 and the SiC index was 1.2. MIH prevalence in Croatia is more common in girls than in boys. MIH has a significant impact on children’s development and is a major factor in the occurrence of caries.

Molar-incisor enamel hypomineralization cross-sectional prevalence evaluation in oral-breathing allergic children

Objective: Molar-incisor hypomineralization (MIH) is a highly prevalent dental development disturbance caused by dis­rupted ameloblast maturation. This condition affects up to 44% of children around the world and several systemic con­ditions have been associated with MIH, including Mouth-Breathing. It is important to show that MIH has multifacto­rial etiology and is associated with allergic mouth-breathing children. Methods: To evaluate MIH prevalence in MBCS children with positive and negative allergic response to the skin prick test, a cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative comparative assessment was conducted in 23 mouth-breathing children and 25 sex/age-matched siblings. Enamel defects were classified by the modified rate of FDI Development Defects of Enamel. Statistical Student’s t tests were applied to ve­rify the relevance of the data. Results: MIH prevalence showed significant statistical differences in the comparison betwe­en molars, independently of individual age (p = 0.01513474). MBCS children under 5 years old had higher statistical preva­lence of MIH (p = 0.00594). MBCS children with positive skin reactions to the prick test had higher prevalence of MIH (p = 0,023). MBCS children had statistically significant higher prevalence of demarcated opacity (p = 0.00012). Conclusions: Finally, MBCS children with positive skin reactions to the prick test had higher prevalence of MIH (p = 0,023), indicating that mouth-breathing allergy-responsive children had higher MIH prevalence. Our results corroborate our previous hypo­thesis that MBCS children have increased MIH prevalence in comparison to their siblings, with statistical significance (p = 0.01513474). Further investigations with larger samples may enhance and confirm the accuracy of our results.