Mothers’ Sense of Coherence as a Predictor of Oral Health Related Quality of Life Among Preschool Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Introduction: Sense of coherence (SOC) influences an individual’s health-related behaviours and practices. A mother’s SOC can influence oral health status and oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) of their children. Studies exploring the association between these variables are scarce. Aim: To determine a mother’s SOC, the child’s caries experience and OHRQoL and the association between these variables among mother–child pairs in Bangalore city. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 preschool children and their mothers from government and private preschools participated in the study. The mother’s SOC was assessed using Antonovsky’s 13-item SOC questionnaire, whereas OHRQoL of preschool children was assessed using Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS). Caries experience [decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft)] was recorded using World Health Organization criteria 2013. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. Mann–Whitney U test, t-test, Pearson correlation test and regression analysis were also applied. Significance was set at 5%. Results: The mean SOC score of the mothers and ECOHIS score were 53.79 ± 11.68 and 17.23 ± 7.87, respectively. The mean caries experience score was 0.99 ± 1.48. In this study, dmft negatively correlated with SOC [(r = −0.367), (P < 0.001)] and positively correlated with ECOHIS [(r = 0.679), (P < 0.001)]. SOC negatively correlated with ECOHIS [(r = −0.369), (P < 0.001]. Conclusion: Mother’s SOC negatively correlated with the child’s caries experience, which affected their OHRQoL. Hence, improving a mother’s SOC is the key to better oral health and quality of life.