Objective:

To estimate and compare the frequency of caries in children aged 6 to 11 years with malnutrition due to excess and normal weight who were treated at the Odontological Clinic of Pediatric Dentistry at the Andrés Bello University (Santiago, Chile) in the years 2021 and 2022. The hypothesis is that the frequency of dental caries in children with excess malnutrition is higher than in normal weight children.

Materials and methods:

Desing: exploratory, descriptive and cross-sectional. 52 normal weight patients (28 and 24 children aged 6 to 8 and 9 to 11 years respectively) and 44 malnourished due to excess (29 and 15 children aged 6 to 8 and 9 to 11 years respectively) were chosen, taking into consideration the control of confounding factors: socioeconomic level, diet, hygiene and diseases that condition oral health. Measurements: to estimate of the frequency of caries, standard deviation and confidence interval.

Results:

It is observed that the mean caries frequencies in children with normal weight are lower than those in children malnourished due to excess.

Conclusion:

It is inferred that children with poor nutrition due to excess are related to high caries frequency values.

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