Maternal caries experience influences offspring’s early childhood caries—a birth cohort study

Abstract

Objective To describe early childhood caries (ECC) patterns and evaluate the associations with maternal caries experience and other factors. Methods A secondary analysis was undertaken using data from the Study of Mothers' and Infants' Life Events Affecting Oral Health (SMILE), a population‐based birth cohort study. It used data from 1040 mother/child dyads. Standardized oral examinations of the mothers and the children were conducted when children were 2‐3 years old to determine the prevalence of ECC (main outcome) and maternal caries experience (main exposure variable). Maternal sociodemographic characteristics, time‐restricting conditions (relationship status, work status and number of children in the household) and dental health behaviours (brushing frequency and sugary beverage consumption) served as covariates. Data on child dental health behaviours were collected at two years of age. Multivariable models were generated for ECC to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) for the association between ECC and maternal caries experience, controlling for the covariates. Results The prevalence of ECC among 2‐ to 3‐year‐old children was 10.6% (95%CI: 8.7%‐12.5%). It was higher in children whose mothers had greater caries experience. Children whose mothers had higher caries experience had 86% (PR = 1.86 [1.27‐2.72]) greater risk of having ECC than those whose mothers had low caries experience. Children whose teeth had not been brushed the night before had a higher risk of ECC (PR = 1.4 [1.01‐1.9]) than their counterparts. Women born in Australia, New Zealand or the UK had offspring with lower risk of ECC. Conclusions Maternal caries experience was an independent risk factor for offspring ECC. However, good oral health behaviours practised by mothers for their children may alleviate such risk. Mothers need to be supported to adopt good oral health behaviours and a healthy diet for their child.

Social‐cognitive predictors of parental supervised toothbrushing: An application of the health action process approach

“…The empirical literature has highlighted the pressing need for behaviour change interventions targeting parental supervised toothbrushing to prevent the development of ECC (Aliakbari et al., 2020; Hamilton, Cornish, et al., 2018; Hariyani et al., 2020; Smith et al., 2020). Regular parental supervised toothbrushing using fluoride toothpaste is not only important for ECC prevention, but also for establishing the habit of regular toothbrushing, which is transferred from parent to child.…”

“…Positive oral health behaviours are generally established very early in life, and their development is heavily influenced by parental involvement (Blinkhorn, Wainwright‐Stringer, & Holloway, 2001; Hamilton, Cornish, et al., 2018; Hariyani et al., 2020; Mohebbi, Virtanen, Murtomaa, Vahid‐Golpayegani, & Vehkalahti, 2008). The preschool years therefore offer a crucial period for building and establishing lifelong good oral hygiene behaviours.…”

“…Numerous studies have highlighted the need for theory‐based behaviour change interventions targeting oral hygiene practices (Scheerman et al., 2016), including parental supervised toothbrushing (Aliakbari et al., 2020; Hamilton, Cornish, et al., 2018; Hariyani et al., 2020; Smith, Kroon, Schwarzer, & Hamilton, 2020). To inform the design of effective behaviour change interventions, it is important to identify potentially modifiable predictors of parental supervised toothbrushing.…”

Hydrogeogenic fluoride in groundwater and dental fluorosis in Thai agrarian communities: a prevalence survey and case–control study

“…DAGs can serve as a conceptual framework for conducting multivariable analyses that sequentially include different sets of extraneous variables. This technique has been previously applied in dental research to elucidate a variation in etiologic patterns of early childhood caries [ 61 , 62 ]. This study pioneered in applying the approach in dental fluorosis research and illustrating the need of taking into account the substantial confounding influence of breastfeeding and children’s oral health behavior on the association between natural fluoride in groundwater and dental fluorosis in children.…”

Оцінка Чинників Ризику Розвитку Раннього Дитячого Карієсу В Дітей За Даними Анкетування Батьків

“…Здоров'я порожнини рота матері, її знання з питань профілактики стоматологічних захворювань та ставлення до гігієни ротової порожнини в цілому роблять значний вплив на стан здоров'я дитини. Недостатня інформованість батьків про наявність у дітей патологічних змін у ротовій порожнині, незнання необхідності огляду і санації тимчасових зубів є причиною їх низької медичної активності [6][7][8][9][10].…”