VARIATIONS IN CRANIOFACIAL GROWTH DEPENDING ON THE TYPE AND DURATION OF LACTATION RECEIVED IN CHILDREN WITH MIXED DENTITION IN PURBA MIDNAPORE, WEST BENGAL: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

*Dr. Debasmita Datta Gupta, Dr. Amitabha Chakraborty, Dr. Bibhas Dey, Dr. Sinjana Jana

ABSTRACT

Introduction Mother‟s milk is considered as the most important source of nutrition for newborns as supported by several organizations such as AAP, WHO and so on. As evidenced, the craniofacial growth is influenced by functional stimuli. Different feeding mechanisms thus may affect the craniofacial growth. However few studies are found supporting the fact. Study and methods After going through a questionnaire based survey, lateral cephalograms of 153 children of mixed dentition receiving different types of lactation for different time period were compared in terms of Steiners Cephalometric Analysis. Comparison among multiple groups was done using one-way ANOVA test. Tukey HSD (Tukey Honest Significant Differences) was performed for multiple pairwise comparison between the means of groups. Also Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test, a non-parametric alternative to one-way ANOVA was performed when ANOVA assumptions were not met. Results After all comparisons, statistically significant differences were observed among exclusively breastfeeding and exclusively bottle-feeding as well as both feeding habit group regarding mostly skeletal and certain dental parameters emphasizing over the fact that exclusively breastfeeding habit caused changes much more near the norm. When comparisons were made within both feeding habit groups based on time duration, some skeletal as well as some dental parameters also showed statistically significant differences favouring positivity towards more time duration in breastfeeding. But no such significant change was observed in terms of soft tissue parameters among different groups. Even no association observed between different feeding habits and non-nutritive sucking habits. Conclusion Apart from multiple advantages of breastfeeding both for mother and newborn, breastfeeding for certain time duration also helps in correct orofacial development.

Keywords: breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, non-nutritive sucking habit, orofacial growth.