Abstract
The follow-up examination was continued in infants 1 year and 6 months old and living in Tokyo for 1 year and 6 months. The selected subjects were at the period characterized by a remarkable increase of caries. The relation between increased caries teeth and their physical development during the study period was researched.
An examination of the correlations between number of increased decayed teeth, that of increased carious teeth surfaces, and physical-development-index (Quetelet, Kaup-index, Rohrerindex, Brugsch, the rate of incremental physical height, the rate of incremental physical weight, the rate of incremental girth of the chest) during the study period showed the rate of incremental physical weight could be an important subtractive factor in consideration of the mentioned relation. It was estimated that the rate of incremental physical weight was reduced by about 1% as carious teeth increased by one, and by two for carious teeth surfaces.
Futhermore, the physical weight development was degraded as the caries increased regardless of tooth type. On the relation between the susceptibility to caries and the rate of incremental physical weight, the increased rate was the lowest when lower primary canines, least susceptible, were affected by caries attack, followed by lower primary lateral incisors and by lower primary central incisors. On the other hand, the rate was the relatively high in upper primary central incisors and lower primary second molars. However these rates were lower than the rate observed in caries-free teeth.
Therefore, increased decayed primary teeth has been demonstrated to be in a close relation with physical weight development.
