Oral health risk assessment should be performed at which infant age range?

• A. 0-3 months
• B. 6-9 months
• C. 9-12 months
• D. 12-18 months

Answer: (B)

Evaluating a child’s oral health risk is most informative when the first primary teeth are starting to erupt, because this is when you can observe and assess the factors that influence caries risk in a real mouth. Around six to nine months, teeth often begin to appear, and you can directly evaluate feeding practices, bottle use and nighttime exposures, frequency of sugar-containing foods or drinks, and the child’s oral hygiene routine. This timing also gives you a window to introduce preventive measures—like caregiver guidance on reducing nocturnal bottle feeding, promoting regular brushing, and planning appropriate fluoride strategies—before decay-prone conditions become more established as more teeth erupt.

Starting too early, such as before teeth are visible, provides limited information about the infant’s actual risk, though family history and caregiver factors can be considered. Delaying risk assessment beyond the six-to-nine-month range can miss opportunities to intervene early when prevention is most effective and before the full set of primary teeth has erupted. Therefore, six to nine months is the best window to perform an oral health risk assessment.