Impact of nutritive and non-nutritive sucking in early childhood

Abstract

Introduction: the pathogenicity of a malocclusion may arise from the effect that exists on the oral cavity of sucking habits, which in turn are dependent on other factors. Objective: to describe the level of knowledge that the population has about nutritive and non-nutritive sucking habits at the “Marcelino pan y vino” Child Development Center in the city of Santo Domingo, Ecuador. Method: for data collection, the descriptive qualitative-quantitative method was used with intentional non-probabilistic sampling, through a survey on knowledge of nutritive and non-nutritive sucking, digital sucking, pacifier sucking, and bottle sucking and administration. of nutritional suction carried out on people who attended with the children at the “Marcelino Pan y vino” Child Development Center in the city of Santo Domingo. Results: little knowledge was found about sucking habits that cause the development of erroneous ideas about these habits, which are transmitted from generation to generation and, therefore, there is a high rate of dental and jaw malformations in early childhood. Conclusions: there is evidence of low knowledge of the topic of nutritive and non-nutritive suction, because it is not a matter of much interest, there is little information and its dissemination is insufficient. Improving the oral health of children during early childhood depends on the scope of prevention and health promotion and the dissemination of information regarding good sucking habits.