Abstract
BackgroundDue to high prevalence and serious impacts, childhood caries represents a public health issue. Behavioural risk factors such as locus of health control have been implicated in the development of the disease; however their association with childhood caries has not been thoroughly studied. The aim of this cross-sectional survey was to assess the relationship between parental locus of health control and caries experience and untreated caries of their preschool children in a representative sample in Czech Republic, adjusting for relevant sociodemographic characteristics.MethodsA representative sample of 285 preschool children and their parents was recruited. Study data included children's dental status recorded in nurseries and parental questionnaires with 13 attitudinal items regarding locus of control (LoC) in caries prevention. The association between parental locus of control and children's caries experience and level of untreated caries was analysed using logistic regression, adjusting for the effect of key sociodemographic variables.ResultsThere was a statistically highly significant linear trend between increased parental LoC and higher probability of the children to be free from untreated caries, independent from the effect of sociodemographic variables of children and parents. A similar highly statistically significant trend, although not entirely linear, and independent from sociodemographic variables was observed with respect to the chance of the children to be free from caries experience with increasing strength of parental LoC. After full adjustment, children in the strongest parental LoC quintile were 2.81 (1.23–6.42, p< 0.05) times more likely to be free from untreated caries in comparison to the weakest parental LoC quintile and 2.32 (1.02–5.25, p< 0.05) times more likely to be free from caries experience in comparison to the weakest parental LoC quintile.ConclusionThe findings support the hypothesis that higher internal parental LoC is associated with better control of both untreated caries and caries experience in their preschool children and highlight that a more internal LoC within the family is advantageous in the prevention of dental caries.
Highlights
Introduction to the Early Childhood CariesConference: initial description and current understanding
This means that children in the highest parental locus of control (LoC) quintile were more likely to be free from untreated caries in comparison to their counterparts in the lower quintiles
Children in the strongest parental LoC quintile were 2.81 (1.23–6.42, p
Summary
Introduction to the Early Childhood CariesConference: initial description and current understanding. Due to high prevalence and serious impacts, childhood caries represents a public health issue Behavioural risk factors such as locus of health control have been implicated in the development of the disease; their association with childhood caries has not been thoroughly studied. Severe forms of childhood caries in primary dentition represent a symptom of other paediatric disorders and reflect lack of adequate care for children [10] In this context, childhood caries should be addressed from the broader paediatric and public health rather than solely clinical dental standpoint, as viewing it as only a problem of dentists restricts the interest of the society to effectively solve it [11]. With respect to socio-economic indicators it has been recognized that children's oral health is related to their families' socio-economic status (SES) and their mothers' education level [15,16,17,18]
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