Assessing the Effects of Oral Health Knowledge and Behaviours of Mothers on Oral Health of Preschool 4-6 Years Old Children

Year 2023, , 554 - 564, 31.05.2023

Anas Mohamed , Gül Ergör , Gülser Kılınç

https://doi.org/10.30621/jbachs.904671

Abstract

Background- Pre-school child health has always been one of the most important milestones for lifelong health research. Also, the knowledge and behaviour of the parents, especially mothers, affects children's health. The variable household-related factors and mothers, in particular, are considered to be the main role models that can improve pre-school children behaviour.
Objective
To determine the knowledge and behaviours of the mothers and their impact on pre-school 4-6 years old children oral health status.
Method
A 27 subjects’ questionnaire was prepared using previous questionnaires assessing mothers’ knowledge and behaviours towards oral health. Children's oral and dental health was examined by the researcher and scores were calculated using dmft (decayed, missing, filled, tooth) index. Accordingly, the effect of knowledge and behaviour of the mothers on their children dmft score was analysed. Chi-Square and logistic regression tests were used in the statistical analysis.
Results
The study population consisted of 261 pre-school children and their mothers. Which included 126 males (48.3%) males and 135 females (51.7%). The mean mothers’ oral health knowledge score was found to be 4.24  1.94. The children oral health examination through dmft scoring showed that 71.3% of children had experienced dental caries. the mean value for dmft score was 2.32  2.39.
Our study showed that the mother's cumulative oral health knowledge score has a statistically significant relationship to the children oral health status. The higher the mother's oral health knowledge scores the lower their children dmft scores (p=0.001).
Conclusion Mothers oral health knowledge and dental health indices in our study are lagging behind the developed countries and the WHO goal for the 21st century showing an urgent need to improve the effectiveness of preventive care in oral health programmes.

Keywords

preschool children health, oral health knowledge, dental caries

Supporting Institution

Dokuz Eylul University

Thanks

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my family, my loved ones, who have supported me throughout my entire life, both by keeping me harmonious and helping me putting pieces together. I will be grateful forever for your love. I would like to extend my appreciation to my supervisors, Professor Gül ERGÖR for all your help and support through the entire program, Dr. Gülser KILINÇ for the useful comments, remarks and engagement through the learning process of this study. Furthermore, I would like to thank the paedıatrics department at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital for the support on the way. Special thanks to the Department of Public Health at the Institute of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University for the friendly and inspiring environment and for giving me the opportunity to grow professionally. Last but not least, my sincere appreciation to everyone who helped me through my journey since day one.

References

• 1. World Health Organization. World health Report factsheet. Factsheet.
• 2. Dülgergil Ç, Dalli M, Hamidi M, Çolak H. Early childhood caries update: A review of causes, diagnoses, and treatments. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2013. doi:10.4103/0976-9668.107257
• 3. Case A, Paxson C. Parental behavior and child health. Heal Aff. 2002;21(2):164-178. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.21.2.164
• 4. Kumar S, Kroon J, Lalloo R. A systematic review of the impact of parental socio-economic status and home environment characteristics on children’s oral health related quality of life. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2014;12(1):1-15. doi:10.1186/1477-7525-12-41
• 5. Ravishankar T, Chaitra T, Mohapatra A, Gupta V, Suresh B. Mother′s knowledge about pre-school child′s oral health. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent. 2010;28(4):282. doi:10.4103/0970-4388.76159
• 6. Wigen TI, Wang NJ. Parental influences on dental caries development in preschool children. An overview with emphasis on recent Norwegian research. Nor Epidemiol. 2012;22(1):13-19. doi:10.5324/nje.v22i1.1515
• 7. Reisine S, Tellez M, Willem J, Sohn W, Ismail A. Relationship between caregiver’s and child’s caries prevalence among disadvantaged African Americans. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2008;36(3):191-200. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0528.2007.00392.x
• 8. Dye BA, Vargas CM, Lee JJ, Magder L, Tinanoff N. Assessing relationship between children’s health status and that of their mothers. J Amer Dent Assoc. 2011;142(2):173-183.
• 9. Petersen PE, Bourgeois D, Ogawa H, Estupinan-Day S, Ndiaye C. The global burden of oral diseases and risks to oral health. Bull World Health Organ. 2005. doi:/S0042-96862005000900011
• 10. Kanli A, Kanbur NO, Dural S, Derman O. Effects of oral health behaviors and socioeconomic factors on a group of Turkish adolescents. Quintessence Int. 2008;39(1):e26-32. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18551208.
• 11. Efe E, Sarvan S, Kukulu K. Self-Reported Knowledge and Behaviors Related to Oral and Dental Health in Turkish Children. Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs. 2007;30(4):133-146. doi:10.1080/01460860701728337
• 12. Kuvvetli SS, Cildir SK, Ergeneli S, Sandalli N. Prevalence of noncavitated and cavitated carious lesions in a group of 5-year-old Turkish children in Kadikoy, Istanbul. J Dent Child (Chic). 2008;75:158-163.
• 13. Saydam G, Oktay I, Möller I. Türkiyede Ağız Dis ̧ Sağlığı Durum Analizi. Dünya Sağlık Örgütü Avrupa Bölgesi-Sağlık Bakanlığı Oral Health Status Analysis. WHO European Region-Ministry of Health, Ankara.; 1990.
• 14. Bahar P, Doğan G, Gökalp PS. Türkiye ’ de Diş Çürüğü Durumu ve Tedavi Caries Status and Treatment Needs in Turkey ,. 2008:45-57.
• 15. Gökalp PS, Bahar P, Doğan G, Tekçİçek DM. Erişkin ve Yaşlılarda Ağız-Diş Sağlığı Profili The Oral Health Profile of Adults and Elderly ,. Oral Health. 2007:11-18.
• 16. Hooley M, Skouteris H, Boganin C, Satur J, Kilpatrick N. Parental influence and the development of dental caries in children aged 0-6 years: A systematic review of the literature. J Dent. 2012;40(11):873-885. doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2012.07.013
• 17. Isong IA, Zuckerman KE, Rao SR, Kuhlthau KA, Winickoff JP, Perrin JM. Association Between Parents’ and Children’s Use of Oral Health Services. Pediatrics. 2010;125(3):502-508. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-1417
• 18. Topaloglu-Ak A, Eden E, Frencken JE. Managing dental caries in children in Turkey--a discussion paper. BMC Oral Health. 2009;9:32. doi:10.1186/1472-6831-9-32
• 19. Chu C-H, Ho P-L, Lo EC. Oral health status and behaviours of preschool children in Hong Kong. BMC Public Health. 2012. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-767
• 20. Holm AK. Caries in the preschool child international trends. J Dent. 1990. doi:10.1016/0300-5712(90)90125-X
• 21. Ashkanani F, Al-Sane M. Knowledge, attitudes and practices of caregivers in relation to oral health of preschool children. Med Princ Pract. 2013;22(2):167-172. doi:10.1159/000341764
• 22. Rothnie JJ, Walsh CA, Wang MJ-J, Morgaine KC, Drummond BK. An exploratory study of pregnant women’s knowledge of child oral health care in New Zealand. N Z Dent J. 2012;108(4):129-133. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23477011.
• 23. Chhabra N, Chhabra a. Parental knowledge, attitudes and cultural beliefs regarding oral health and dental care of preschool children in an Indian population: a quantitative study. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2012.
• 24. Liu H-Y, Chen J-R, Hsiao S-Y, Huang S-T. Caregivers’ oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior toward their children with disabilities. J Dent Sci. 2017;12(4):388-395. doi:10.1016/J.JDS.2017.05.003
• 25. Khanal K, Shrestha D, Ghimire N, Younjan R, Sanjel S. Assessment of knowledge regarding oral hygiene among parents of pre-school children attending pediatric out patient department in Dhulikhel hospital. Kathmandu Univ Med J. 2015;13(49):38-43. doi:10.3126/kumj.v13i1.13751
• 26. Saied-Moallemi Z, Virtanen JI, Ghofranipour F, Murtomaa H. Influence of mothers’ oral health knowledge and attitudes on their children’s dental health. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2008;9(2):79-83. doi:10.1007/BF03262614
• 27. Pine CM, Adair PM, Petersen PE, et al. Developing explanatory models of health inequalities in childhood dental caries. 2004;21(March):86-95.
• 28. Petersen PE. The World Oral Health Report 2003: continuous improvement of oral health in the 21st century--the approach of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2003;31:3-24. doi:10.1046/j..2003.com122.x
• 29. Begzati A, Berisha M, Meqa K. Early childhood caries in preschool children of Kosovo - a serious public health problem. BMC Public Health. 2010;10:788. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-788
• 30. Oulis CJ, Tsinidou K, Vadiakas G, Mamai-Homata E, Polychronopoulou A, Athanasouli T. Caries prevalence of 5, 12 and 15-year-old Greek children: A national pathfinder survey. Community Dent Health. 2012;29(1):29-32. doi:10.1922/CDH_2731Oulis04
• 31. Azizi Z. The prevalence of dental caries in primary dentition in 4- to 5-year-old preschool children in Northern Palestine. Int J Dent. 2014;2014. doi:10.1155/2014/839419
• 32. van der Tas JT, Kragt L, Elfrink MEC, et al. Social inequalities and dental caries in six-year-old children from the Netherlands. J Dent. 2017;62(April):18-24. doi:10.1016/j.jdent.2017.04.008
• 33. Stecksén-Blicks C, Hasslöf P, Kieri C, Widman K. Caries and background factors in Swedish 4-year-old children with special reference to immigrant status. Acta Odontol Scand. 2014. doi:10.3109/00016357.2014.914569
• 34. De Castilho ARF, Mialhe FL, De Souza Barbosa T, Puppin-Rontani RM. Influence of family environment on children’s oral health: A systematic review. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2013;89(2):116-123. doi:10.1016/j.jped.2013.03.014
• 35. Suresh BS, Ravishankar TL, Chaitra TR, Mohapatra AK, Gupta V. Mothers knowledge about pre-school children’s oral health. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent. 2010;28(4):282-287. http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0970-4388.76159.
• 36. Schwendicke F, Dörfer CE, Schlattmann P, Page LF, Thomson WM, Paris S. Socioeconomic inequality and caries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Dent Res. 2015. doi:10.1177/0022034514557546
• 37. Christensen LB, Twetman S, Sundby A. Oral health in children and adolescents with different socio-cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Acta Odontol Scand. 2010. doi:10.3109/00016350903301712
• 38. Duijster D, De Jong-Lenters M, De Ruiter C, Thijssen J, Van Loveren C, Verrips E. Parental and family-related influences on dental caries in children of Dutch, Moroccan and Turkish origin. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2015;43(2):152-162. doi:10.1111/cdoe.12134