The Relationship between Stunting and Tooth Eruption of Primary School Children at Tuah Negeri Sub-district, Musi Rawas District, South Sumatera Province, Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Stunting is a condition where the body height is shorter than normal, unproportioned to the child age, caused by lack of nutrition and/or caused by repeated disease in a long time period since the development of fetus until the first two years of life. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System states that Calcium, Phosphorus, vitamin C and vitamin D intake are extremely important so that lack of those nutrient can prohibit body growth and tooth development and eruption. Tuah Negri Sub-district at Musi Rawas District, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia is one of sub-district in Indonesia with high prevalence of stunting event. AIM: This research was performed to proof that there is an association between stunting and tooth eruption of primary school children at Tuah Negeri Sub-district, Musi Rawas District, South Sumatera Province, Indonesia. METHODS: The research employed a quantitative research design with a cross-sectional analytical survey method. Nutritional status was examined anthropometrically to identify stunting event. Tooth examination was performed among 94 students of 5 purposively selective primary schools based on their high prevalence of stunting cases. The results were then put into the odontogram. RESULTS: The results of the study showed that there were 31 children with stunting (33.0%), which is higher than the national data, and 21 of those with the stunting (67.7%) were identified as having delayed tooth eruption. Statistical examination using chi-squared test showed that the proportion of children with delayed tooth eruption was significantly higher among children with stunting compared to those without stunting, with p-value 0.034 and odds ratio (OR) 2.63 (95% C.I. = 1.7 – 6.5). CONCLUSION: There is an association between stunting and tooth eruption of primary school children at Tuah Negeri Sub-district, Musi Rawas District, South Sumatera Province, Indonesia. Children with stunting have 2.63 times higher possibility to experience delayed tooth eruption compared with those without stunting