Introduction: Nutritional status is a condition of the body which is the result of a balance between food intake and nutritional needs. Good nutritional status is very important for children, but in reality there are still many malnourished children. Lack of nutrition and the habit of consuming excess food can make teeth susceptible to caries. The tooth with the highest caries incidence is mandibular first molar which is the most important tooth in mastication process. The purpose of this research is to determine the relationship between nutritional status and the incidence of caries in permanent mandibular first molar children aged 7 years in Plalangan Village, Jember, East Java, Indonesia. Methods: This is an analytic observational research with a cross-sectional approach. The sampling technique of this research is Total Sampling, which uses the entire population as the sample of this study. This research was conducted by measuring the nutritional status of BMI-for-age based on anthropometric standards from the Minister of Health of the Republic Indonesia No. 2 of 2020 and examining the oral cavity to see whether there is caries or not in the permanent mandibular first molar. Results: The results of the Chi-Square Test showed a value of 0.036. Conclusion: The result shown that thinness and overweight children have a higher caries incidence than normal weight children. There is a significant relationship between nutritional status and incidence of permanent mandibular first molar caries.

Background and Objectives: Nutritional deficiency in stunting toddlers is closely related to the calcium deficiency which is the most important component of the formation of bone and tooth structure. Deficiency of calcium can delay tooth eruption and increase the risk of dental caries. Little is known about the difference in dental caries severity on stunting and non-stunting toddlers in Kalisat, Jember, Indonesia. The study aims to examine the differences between the severity of dental caries on stunting and non-stunting toddlers. Methods: This was an analytic observational study with a cross-sectional approach conducted in the working area of Kalisat Health Center, Jember, Indonesia. The population was stunting and non-stunting toddlers aged 25-60 months. The samples were selected using clustered random sampling technique (100 stunting toddlers and 100 non-stunting toddlers). Variables in this research were dental caries and incidence of stunting. The measurement of dental caries in toddlers was carried out by identifying the worst type of dental caries in toddlers, which occurred as pulp irritation (IP), pulp hyperemia (HP), pulp gangrene (GP), and radix gangrene (GR). Data analysis was descriptive. Mann Whitney U-test was used with 0.05 (p-value) as a test to analyze the differences between stunting and non-stunting toddlers’ dental caries. Results: Stunting toddlers had more cases of pulp gangrene and radix gangrene than non-stunting toddlers. Mann Whitney U-Test showed the p-value was 0.038 (p < 0.05) which meant there were differences in dental caries between stunting and non-stunting toddlers. Conclusion Most of the stunting toddlers had more severe dental caries than the non-stunting toddlers.
Dental Caries ; Stunting ; Growth Disorders