Maternal Knowledge Regarding Feeding Practices and its Effect on Occlusion of Primary Dentition in Children: A Cross-sectional Study.

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ABSTRACTBackgroundInfant feeding practices are an important factor influencing malocclusion in deciduous dentition, which can have long-lasting negative outcomes on oral health-related quality of life. Hence, knowledge, attitudes and cultural practices of mothers are vital in prevention of this.ObjectiveThe present study was carried out to assess the mother's knowledge about feeding practices and its influence on primary dentition.Materials and methodsThe current study was a cross-sectional study of 187 mothers of 3- to 5-year-old children identified with malocclusion, conducted in the pedodontics department of tertiary care teaching dental hospital in South India.ResultsMajority of the mothers were graduates (31.6%) or undergraduates or postgraduates (42.8%). The duration of breastfeeding was 0–3 months in 9.1%, 3–6 months in 23%, 6–12 months in 30.5%, and >12 months in 37.5%. Bottle-feeding was reported by 21.4%. Only 52.4% of the mothers were aware about caries, and 66.2% were aware of malocclusion. The prevalence of malocclusion was 63.6% in study population, and the prevalence of caries was 30.5%. The most common type of malocclusion was overjet seen in 20.9% of study subjects. The proportion of children with crowding, open bite, and crossbite was 17.1, 15, and 10.7%, respectively. There was a gradually increasing trend in malocclusion awareness with increasing educational status of the mother which was statistically not significant (p value = 0.119). The proportion of malocclusion was highest in children who received breastfeeding between 3 months and 6 months and was highest (69.8%) in children who received bottle-feeding for more than 12 months. None of the factors had shown a statistically significant association with malocclusion in study population.ConclusionThe prevalence of malocclusion is high in children, and mothers’ awareness regarding malocclusion is poor.Clinical significanceThere is a need to educate mothers about proper feeding practices to prevent dental malocclusion.How to cite this articleDuraisamy V, Pragasam AX, Vasavaih SK, et al. Maternal Knowledge Regarding Feeding Practices and its Effect on Occlusion of Primary Dentition in Children: A Cross-sectional Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2020;13(1):31–34.