Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the prevalence of dental caries in young children aging 1 to 3 years in Chengdu city and the relationship with family oral hygiene habits. METHODS: One thousand children aging 1 to 3 years in 5 kindergartens in Chengdu city were selected as the study subjects, and examined for oral hygiene. They were divided into case group and control group according to the presence of dental caries. Questionnaires were sent out to two groups of children to find out their oral hygiene habits, and the results were compared and analyzed with SPSS 20.0 software package. RESULTS: Three hundred and thirty-one children suffered from dental caries, and the incidence of dental caries was 33.10%. There was no significant differences in sex, low birth weight, gestational age, medical history, parents' highest educational background and main caregivers between the case group and the control group (P>; 0.05); there were significant differences in age distribution, feeding methods and annual family income between two groups (P<; 0.05). In addition to the frequency of flossing and brushing, there were significant differences in other family oral hygiene behaviors between two groups (regular dental examination, frequency of sweets eaten by children, frequency of sweets eaten before sleep and frequency of sweets eaten by parents) (P<; 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that age, annual family income, sleeping with bottles, regular examination of children's teeth, frequency of children eating sweets and frequency of children eating before sleep were all influencial factors of caries in young children (P<; 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of dental caries in young children in Chengdu city is high, and there is significant correlation between dental caries in young children and family oral health behavior, which is one of the influencing factors for dental caries in young children.

Key words: Young children, Dental caries, Family oral hygiene, Risk factors