Association between Breastfeeding and Dentocraniofacial Growth and Development among 3-5 Years Old Children in Two Ethnics Group of North Sumatera

Abstract

Introduction: Babies need big energy so that mom’s breastmilk could come out during the sucking process. The movement of lips, cheek, tongue and lower jaw during the sucking of breastmilk, was done with regular rhythm and continuously affect the growth and development of the dentocraniofacial. Material & Methods: The type of research which was carried out was observational with retrospective cohort study which aimed to get the correlation of breastfeeding during infancy with the growth and development of the dentocraniofacial region on 3 to 5 years old children of Malay ethnic and the Bataknese. Results: On the Malay ethnic, there’s a significant correlation between breastfeeding during infancy with all the measurement variables (p<0.05). On the Bataknese, there’s a significant correlation between breastfeeding during infancy with the width of the dental arch and the length of the dental arch (p<0.05). There is no significant correlation between breastfeeding during infancy with the circumference of the dental arch and the palatal depth (p>0.05). Conclusion: Breastfeeding will affect the growth and development of the dentocraniofacial region which will affect the size of the dental arch and the palatal depth.

Keywords: Breastfeeding, Dentocraniofacial, Growth and Development