Nursing caries has been known to exist for many centuries.1 The
prevalence has been reported to vary between 1% and 80%
worldwide, but in western societies it is believed to be between 3%
and 5% Higher prevalence has occurred in children of lower
social class, migrants and ethnic minority populations.3,4
The aetiology of the condition is a combination of frequent consumption
of fermentable carbohydrates as drinks, especially when
a baby is sleeping, with on-demand breast- or bottle-feeding, oral
colonisation by cariogenic bacteria (especially mutans streptococci),
poor oral hygiene and poor parenting.5–7
In most cases the aetiology will be a combination of several of these events.