Child, neglect and oral health.
BACKGROUND
Despite advancements in oral health policies, dental caries still a problem. The lack of parents/caregiver's care regarding child's oral health, which characterizes neglect, may lead to a high prevalence of caries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the relation between dental caries and neglect in five year-old children.


METHODS
Quantitative study performed in two different moments. First, the children underwent oral examinations and physical inspection. Then, a semi-structured interview was performed with parents of children with high and low caries rate.


RESULTS
In all, 149 physical inspections and oral exams were performed. The number of decayed, missing and filled teeth - dmf-t was 2.75 (SD 2.83); 16 children had extremely high values (dmf-t ≥ 7), 85 intermediate values (1 ≤ dmf-t ≥ 6) and 48 extremely low (dmf-t = 0). Nearly all caregivers were female (96.7%; n = 29), mostly mothers (93.3%; n = 28). Associations were found between caries experience and reason of the last consultation (p = 0.011), decayed teeth and child's oral health perception (p = 0.001). There was a trend towards a significant association between general health and decayed teeth (p = 0.079), general hygiene and caries experience (p = 0.083), and caries experience and number of times the child brushes the teeth (p = 0.086).


CONCLUSIONS
There's a relation between caries experience and children's oral health perception by caregivers, as well as between caries experience and children's access to dental care. There is a trend towards association between caries experience and risk factors suggestive of neglect.
Caroline Barbosa
CB
Lourenço
Maria Vieira de Lima
MV
Saintrain
Family Health Master Program, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Fortaleza, Brazil. anya@fiocruz.br.
Anya Pimentel Gomes Fernandes
AP
Vieira
D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002649:Child Abuse; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004245:DMF Index; D019140:Dental Care for Children / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005190:Family; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009790:Occupations; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult