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Incidence and prevention of early childhood caries in one‐ and two‐parent families
Author(s) -
Plutzer K.,
Keirse M. J. N. C.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2010.01114.x
Subject(s) - early childhood caries , medicine , incidence (geometry) , intervention (counseling) , pediatrics , randomized controlled trial , early childhood , pregnancy , relative risk , demography , oral health , psychology , developmental psychology , family medicine , psychiatry , confidence interval , physics , sociology , biology , optics , genetics , surgery
Background Since the mid‐1990s, there has been an increase in early childhood caries (ECC) in Australia and an increase in children living in one‐parent families. Objective To examine whether single parenthood (mother only) affects the effectiveness of an oral health promotion programme to prevent ECC in their child. Methods First‐time mothers were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of anticipatory guidance to prevent ECC. The intervention was applied during pregnancy and when the child was 6 and 12 months old. Mothers in the control group received no intervention. The presence of ECC was assessed at 20 months of age and compared between children from one‐ and two‐parent families. Results Of 649 women enrolled, 441 brought their child for dental assessment. Eighty‐seven (19.7%) had a one‐parent family. Children from one‐parent families had a 2.3 times higher incidence of ECC than children from two‐parent families. The intervention reduced the frequency of ECC from 8.1% to 1.1% in two‐parent families (relative risk: 0.14) and from 16.3% to 4.5% (relative risk: 0.28) in one‐parent families. One case of ECC was prevented for every nine single mothers receiving anticipatory guidance compared with one case per 15 partnered mothers. Despite a greater reduction in the absolute risk of ECC in children from one‐parent families, the intervention reduced their ECC experience only 3.5‐fold compared with sevenfold in children from two‐parent families. Conclusion The intervention produced a greater reduction in the frequency of ECC in children from one‐parent families than in those from two‐parent families. This did not reduce their disadvantage, though, as they still had a four times higher risk than children from two‐parent families. Mothers and children in one‐parent families need substantially more attention and support than those in two‐parent families to eliminate their disadvantage in suffering ECC.