{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T18:11:37Z","timestamp":1779387097603,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,19]],"date-time":"2026-05-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779148800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Children"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a chronic inflammatory condition that may impose a systemic burden in pediatric patients. This study aimed to evaluate the association between dental caries severity, classified by dmft (decayed, missing, and filled teeth for primary dentition) scores, and preoperative systemic inflammatory markers derived from routine complete blood counts (CBC). Methods: This retrospective study included 159 children aged 36\u201371 months. Participants were categorized into three groups based on dmft scores: low (0\u20133), medium (4\u20138), and high (\u22659). Hematological parameters and inflammatory indices, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), were analyzed using one-way ANOVA with post hoc comparisons. Results: Significant differences were observed among dmft groups for neutrophil and lymphocyte percentages (p = 0.026 and p = 0.027) and lymphocyte count (p = 0.020). The medium severity group demonstrated higher neutrophil levels and lower lymphocyte values compared to the high severity group (p &lt; 0.05). Although overall group differences for NLR and SII were not statistically significant (p &gt; 0.05), both markers were significantly higher in the medium group than in the high group (p &lt; 0.05). No significant differences were found in hemoglobin, RDW, or platelet parameters. Conclusions: A non-linear trend was observed, with relatively elevated inflammatory markers in the moderate dmft group. These findings suggest that systemic inflammation in ECC is more closely related to disease characteristics than to caries burden alone. CBC-derived parameters may provide supportive but limited value for assessing systemic inflammatory status in pediatric dental patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/children13050691","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T16:46:18Z","timestamp":1779381978000},"page":"691","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Association Between Early Childhood Caries and Systemic Inflammatory Profiles: A Retrospective Analysis of Children Undergoing Dental Treatment Under General Anesthesia"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6053-5547","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Banu \u00c7i\u00e7ek","family":"Tez Ya\u015far","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Ankara Medipol University, 06570 Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Akif Burak","family":"\u00c7akmak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Anesthesia and Reanimation, Ankara Medical Park Hospital, 06570 Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hacer","family":"Eberlik\u00f6se","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Ankara Medipol University, 06570 Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9962-4926","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arif Yi\u011fit","family":"G\u00fcler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Ankara Medipol University, 06570 Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bahar Ba\u015fak","family":"K\u0131z\u0131ltan Elia\u00e7\u0131k","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Hamidiye Faculty of Dentistry, University of Health Sciences, 34668 \u0130stanbul, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hakan Alpay","family":"Karasu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Ankara Medipol University, 06570 Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"283","article-title":"A study of dental caries and risk factors among Native American infants","volume":"62","author":"Tsubouchi","year":"1995","journal-title":"ASDC J. 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