The frequency of bottle feeding as the main factor of baby bottle tooth decay syndrome

Background Tooth decay or caries still becomes the main problem in Indonesia. In daily life, the prevalence of caries is still high (90.05%). However, there is still not appropriate data that can be used to analyze caries in toddlers, especially baby bottle tooth decay syndrome (BBTD), though the number of BBTD cases is still high in some pediatric dental clinics (90% of patients visiting the clinics). Even though some factors have already been considered to be the risk factor of BBTD, the main risk factor of BBTD is still not known, especially BBTD in Indonesia. Purpose This research is aimed to obtain data relating with bottle-feeding habit in 3-5 year old children in Indonesia as well as the risk of caries emerged. Method This research is an observational research conducted with clinical examination method through caries status (deft) of each child noted by pediatric dentists as well as through questionnaire distributed to parents in order to the risk factor of BBTD. Observation then is conducted on 62 children in the age of 3-5 years old with bottle-feeding habit meeting inclusive criteria. Result The results of clinical examination and questionnaire show that status of caries is various. The data obtained then explains that the frequency of bottle feeding that is more than twice can trigger BBDT 2.27 times bigger than other factors like the role of bottle feeding as a pacifier when falling asleep, the length period of bottle-feeding, and the history of breast-feeding. Conclusion Though milk as subtract can possibly become a factor triggering caries, what becomes the main factor actually is the frequency of bottle-feeding itself. The reason is because of the modulation of subtract related with the development of bacterium colonization on dental surface, so it indirectly also affects its virulence.