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Dental Caries in 3‐Year‐Old Children is Associated More with Child‐Rearing Behaviors than Mother‐Related Health Behaviors
Author(s) -
Kawashita Yumiko,
Fukuda Hideki,
Kawasaki Koji,
Kitamura Masayasu,
Hayashida Hideaki,
Furugen Reiko,
Fukumoto Emiko,
Iijima Youichi,
Saito Toshiyuki
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of public health dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1752-7325
pISSN - 0022-4006
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-7325.2008.00107.x
Subject(s) - medicine , logistic regression , dental health , odds ratio , tooth brushing , oral health , confidence interval , dentistry , dental care , early childhood caries , demography , brush , pathology , toothbrush , sociology , electrical engineering , engineering
Objective: We assessed whether child‐ or mother‐related health behaviors were associated more strongly with dental caries in 3‐year‐old children. Methods: Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed on dental caries' presence as the dependent variable with independent variables from the results of examination and a self‐administered questionnaire of 396 mother–child pairs. Result: Dental caries of 3‐year‐old children was more strongly associated with child‐related health behavior than mother‐related health behavior. Of the child‐related variables, “a habit of feeding in bed”[OR (odds ratio) 10.14; 95 percent class interval (CI) 1.80‐56.97], “eating between meals three times a day or more” (OR 3.33; 95 percent CI 1.56‐7.10), “consuming a sports drink three times a week or more” (OR 4.47; 95 percent CI 1.60‐12.49), “having both home and professional preventive dental care” (OR 3.02; 95 percent CI 1.44‐6.32), and “having professional preventive dental care” (OR 3.79; 95 percent CI 1.75‐8.21) were significantly associated with dental caries in children. Of the mother‐related variables, “brushing teeth once a day or less” (OR 2.72; 95 percent CI 1.19‐6.20) and “drinking alcohol three times a week or more” (OR 0.38; 95 percent CI 0.16‐0.93) had significant effects. Conclusion: Dental caries of 3‐year‐old children was more strongly associated with child‐related health behavior than mother‐related health behavior. The results of this study suggest that encouraging good child‐rearing behavior among mothers could result in better dental health among their children regardless of the mother's dental health status.