Oral Health Behaviour of Nine-Year-Old Children and Their Parents in Sarajevo

Abstract

The oral health situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is among the worst in Europe. We investigated the oral health behaviour of primary schoolchildren and their parents in Sarajevo. This was an anonymous cross-sectional survey among third-grade schoolchildren and their parents’ oral health habits in Canton Sarajevo. Cluster random sampling yielded a representative sample from all the public schools in Canton Sarajevo in 2019. The survey targeted a total of 441 children and 365 parents. Two thirds (66.5%) of the children reported brushing their teeth twice daily, and almost half of them failed to use fluoride toothpaste daily. Girls brushed their teeth significantly more often than did the boys (74% vs. 58%, p = 0.004). Children living in residential areas of middle and high socioeconomic status (SES) reported better oral health habits than did those living in areas of low SES. Our study showed that Sarajevo children’s oral health habits were poor. One-third of the nine-year-olds failed to brush their teeth according to recommendations, and almost half of them failed to use fluoride toothpaste daily. Improving the children’s oral health in the future will urgently require national oral health promotion and prevention programmes.

The mediating effect of social support on the association between socioeconomic status and self-reported oral health status among the migrant elderly following children in Weifang, China: a cross-sectional study

“…It was found that SES could exert its positively direct effect and positively indirect effect on the self-reported oral health status of MEFC, the total effect of SES on self-reported oral health status was 0.24, signified that SES had a positive effect on self-reported oral health status and in this model, the correlation coefficient between two variables was 0.24. This finding was similar to the previous study in Sarajevo which was found the positive effect between SES and self-reported oral health status was also found among children [ 62 ]. Specially, it was found that education level was positively influenced the self-reported oral health status, which was similar to the study in South-East Norway [ 41 ].…”

Improving oral health of children in four Balkan countries: A qualitative study among health professionals

“…Qualitative research methodology is used to understand the experiences and attitudes of patients and the proficiencies of the community or healthcare professionals. This study uncovers existing challenges in a region where information is deficient (19). The interviews were conducted online because of the COVID pandemic.…”

“…Research on tackling the poor oral health situation for children in the Balkan region is scarce ( 19 ). This study aims to identify the obstacles that prevent the implementation of an effective oral health program, reduce the existing knowledge gap, and address the underlying causative factors of poor oral health.…”

Parent's self‐reported tooth brushing and use of fluoridated toothpaste: Associations with their one‐year‐old child's preventive oral health behaviour

“…Instead, the role of the mother alone has been extensively studied and shown to be significant for brushing the teeth of a small child. [23][24][25]27,[35][36][37] Parents' tooth brushing behaviour and age together with parity had a bivariate association with oral homecare of the 1-year-olds.…”

“…Consequently, the family in which the child is born may determine his/her oral health and lead to inequalities in it. 22 A few studies have indicated that maternal tooth brushing behaviour is a strong predictor of children's brushing behaviour, [22][23][24][25][26][27] but few studies have examined the role of fathers. 22 Thus, there is a scarcity of studies in which the impact of both the mother and the father on children's brushing behaviour and role of family-related factors has been reported.…”