Abstract
Objective: To assess the perception of mothers on the importance of deciduous teeth and correlate with eating habits, oral hygiene and infant oral health status (presence or absence of early childhood caries - ECC). Material and Methods: Study’s participants were 80 mothers of children of both genders, from two to five years old, with and without severe ECC. The mothers were divided into two groups according to the child’s oral health. A questionnaire at the form of an interview was applied to mothers with questions on sociodemographic characteristics, eating habits and oral hygiene, and the importance of primary teeth. Mothers were asked to respond according to a Likert scale modified “strongly agree”, “partially agree”, “partially disagree” and “strongly disagree”. The data about oral health status of the child (absence or presence of ECC) were collected from dental records. Results: It was observed that in relation to scores of oral hygiene and eating habits and the importance of primary teeth, the predominance was observed of scores above 10 points, 56.3%, 93.8% e 92.5%, respectively. For the two groups there was no significant difference. Conclusion: The largest number of preschool children’s mothers that have ECC do not know the importance of primary tooth and the important functions it performs. There was no correlation between eating habits, oral hygiene and infant oral health status.
Highlights
The deciduous tooth is important for the proper performance of the masticatory, joint, phonation and occlusion functions
The deciduous dentition is important for the development of the jaws and muscles of the face, serving as a guide for the permanent teeth burst in the correct position [1]
The present study observed that the population studied had satisfactory knowledge on oral health, based on responses obtained in the survey, despite of not having been carried out any kind of specific evaluation for this purpose. This knowledge can be explained by the fact that these children were already part of the program of children’s dental care offered by the area of Pediatric Dentistry, in which parents and/or guardians receive at the first dental visit guidelines on appropriate food habits and oral hygiene
Summary
The deciduous tooth is important for the proper performance of the masticatory, joint, phonation and occlusion functions It participates during periods of growth and development of the height of the dental arches, in breathing and esthetics harmony. A specific form of caries which may develop soon after the eruption of the first tooth, is currently called childhood early caries (CPI) [4.5]. This form of disease is defined by the presence of one or more tooth surfaces with caries (cavitated and non-cavitated lesions), loss (due to caries), or restored in any deciduous tooth of a child under six years old. The objective of this work was to evaluate the perception of mothers about the importance of deciduous teeth and correlate with the habits of oral hygiene and dental condition (presence or absence of CPI)
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