Study of Hemogram Values in Children with Severe Early Childhood Caries

Eugenia Henríquez- D'Aquino; Sonia Echeverría López; Silvia Espinosa Cereceda & Catalina Quintana Carvajal

Summary

Severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) is a multifactorial chronic disease that affects children under 6 years of age, produces pain, infection and destruction of the dental tissues. The pain experienced by children with SECC may lead to altered eating habits that may cause nutritional deficiencies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hemogram values in children with severe early childhood caries, and compare them with age population reference values. An observational retrospective study was carried out. We analyzed the medical records and their respective hemograms of 47 children with S-ECC, classified as ASA1, attended at the Chilean Air Force Hospital under general anesthesia. The hemogram values were taken into account in relation to: hematocrit, hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume (MCV). Descriptive tests were carried out for the variables under study and the t-test was used to compare the hemogram values with the normal reference values. A decrease in hematocrit values was found in 4 patients (8.5 %) and a decrease in the value of MCV in 17 patients (36.7 %). Significant differences were found when comparing the averages obtained in relation to hematocrit, hemoglobin and MCV in children with S-ECC with the reference average (p <0.001). According to the results obtained, in this study, we can conclude that children with severe early childhood caries, have alterations in the average of hemogram values in relation to hematocrit, hemoglobin and MCV.

KEY WORDS: severe early childhood caries, hemogram values, preschool.

How to cite this article

HENRÍQUEZ- D’AQUINO, E.; ECHEVERRÍA, L. S.; ESPINOSA, C. S. & QUINTANA, C. C. Study of hemogram values in children with severe early childhood caries. Int. J. Odontostomat., 13(4): 452-457, 2019.