Will the role of family influence dental caries among seven-year-old children?
The present study analyzed the prevalence of dental caries as well as associations of dental health and family competence among 7-year-old children and their families. Dental caries status was the outcome variable of the 7-year prospective follow-up study. Pre-tested questionnaires were used to gather data individually from the parents at six points in time (at the public maternity health-care clinic during the mother's pregnancy and at childbirth, at the well-baby clinic at 18 months, and at ages 3, 5, and 7 years). Clinical examinations at dental health-care clinics were used to record dental status indicators of the child at ages 3, 5, and 7 years. A child had caries more often when the mother did not regard it as important to teach a healthy lifestyle right from birth; when the mother undervalued consistent action in child-rearing; when the father preferred merely to explain the causes and consequences during child-rearing (giving no examples); when the father had several new carious teeth per year; when the child consumed sweets several times a week; or when the child's toothbrushing was infrequent. The child's daily dental health behaviors and a strong influence of family competence emerged in the final logistic regression analysis. Dental and well-baby clinic staff members need to discuss consistency in child-rearing with the parents and there is a need for modeling adult dental health behaviors at the time of the mother's pregnancy if the child's future preventive dental health is to function properly.
Mattila
Marja-Leena
ML
Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Finland. malema@utu.fi
Rautava
Päivi
P
Ojanlatva
Ansa
A
Paunio
Päivi
P
Hyssälä
Liisa
L
Helenius
Hans
H
Sillanpää
Matti
M
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004037:Diet, Cariogenic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires