Abstract
The proportion of Norwegian preschool children with dental caries experience has decreased during the last decades and the caries distribution has become skewed. Some children develop caries in early life, and caries may affect body weight, growth and quality of life in children. The social environment influences child development, including the risk for developing dental caries. The purpose of this paper was to summarize knowledge from the literature regarding parental influence on caries development in preschool children with focus on recent Norwegian research based on the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study. The results from the literature review showed that characteristics of the family and parental oral health behaviours and lifestyle may be associated with caries development in preschool children. These associations were recently confirmed in the Norwegian setting with low caries prevalence in children, high educational level in the population, and comprehensive dental service free of charge for children. In conclusion, the literature establishes associations between parental factors that are known during pregnancy and early parenthood and caries development in early childhood. These risk indicators may be used by health care personnel to identify risk children and target preventive care at children before dental caries has developed.
Highlights
IntroductionUntreated dental caries can affect body weight, growth and quality of life in preschool children [3]
Dental caries is a common disease in children [1,2]
Offering individualised preventive care to risk children depends on the possibility to identify individuals at risk of developing caries before clinical caries is evident [10,11]
Summary
Untreated dental caries can affect body weight, growth and quality of life in preschool children [3]. The proportion of Norwegian 5-year-old children with caries experience has decreased from 50% in 1985 to 20% in 2010 [8]. In addition to a decrease in caries prevalence the distribution has become skewed with 6% of the 5-year-olds having caries experience in 5 or more teeth [8]. It has been proposed that individualized care to prevent caries development should be targeted at children at high risk of developing caries, instead of offering standardized caries preventive measures to the whole population [9]. Offering individualised preventive care to risk children depends on the possibility to identify individuals at risk of developing caries before clinical caries is evident [10,11]
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