Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
June 2016
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
33
Issue:
2

Association between child caries and maternal health-related behaviours

Objective: To examine the association between 2-6 year-olds’ caries experience and selected maternal oral and general health-related behaviours in an American sample. Methods: Data pertaining to 917 child/mother pairs was from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994. Child caries experience was indicated by the presence of one or more decayed or filled tooth. Data on maternal smoking, frequency of dental visits, consumption of unhealthy food and oral hygiene was linked to children data using the natality file. An aggregate behavioural variable was created. Logistic Regression models were used to assess the association between child caries experience and maternal behaviours adjusting for child’s age, gender, ethnicity, dental visits and mother’s age, education and poverty-income ratio. Results: All four maternal behaviours were significantly associated with child caries in fully adjusted models with
odds ratios 1.42 (95%CI:1.01,2.01) for current smokers versus non-smokers, 1.01 (95%CI:1.01,1.02) for frequent consumption of unhealthy food, 1.63 (95%CI:1.15,2.31) for infrequent dental visits, and 2.49 (95%CI:1.44,4.29) for poor oral hygiene. Conclusions: The results indicate that children’s caries experience is related to a number of maternal behaviours including behaviours not directly related to caries such as smoking. Maternal oral and general health-related behaviours should be incorporated in children’s caries risk assessment and in behaviour changing interventions provided in dental practice to improve children’s oral health.

Key words: child, dental caries, maternal, behavior, American

doi:10.1922/CDH_3801Phillips05

Article Price
£15.00
Institution Article Price
£
Page Start
133
Page End
137
Authors
M. Phillips, E. Masterson, W. Sabbah

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  1. Choosing a measure of Health Related Quality of Life
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  1. Feasibility, utility and impact of a national dental epidemiological survey of three-year-old children in England 2013
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  1. The mouth as a site of structural inequalities; the experience of Aboriginal Australians
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  1. Do ‘poor areas’ get the services they deserve? The role of dental services in structural inequalities in oral health
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  1. Overcoming structural inequalities in oral health: the role of dental curricula
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