STUDY OF ORAL HEALTH PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN WITH THE WORKING STATUS OF THEIR MOTHERS

Abstract

Objective: To study the relationship between various oral health diseases in children with the working status of their mothers Design and Setting: Prospective cross-sectional study conducted at private medical college. Method: 100 children between the age 0-15 years in the outpatient Department of Paediatrics, ASCOMS and Hospital, for a period of 6 months (Jul 2021 to Dec 2021) formed a study group. Oral clinical evaluation was done by looking at the soft tissue for cysts, clefts, traumatic lesion, bad breath and gingivitis. Examination of the dentition included the jaw positioning, presence of hypo-plastic / hypo-calcied enamel and dental decay. Along with the examination, the mothers were enquired about their work status. Treatment was given to kids with oral health problems and follow up was done. Results: A total of 100 children were enrolled in the study. The mean age of children was 7.31 ± 4.14. Out of these 70 children with oral health disease, 54.29% (38 children) had working mothers (WM) and 45.71% (32 children) had Non-Working mothers (NWM) and the ratio of disease in children of WM to that of NWM is 16:19 In nonworking mothers, 45.7% of the children suffered from oral health problems and 56.7% did not have oral health diseases. In working mothers, 54.3% of the children suffered from oral health problems and 43.4% did not have oral health diseases. The association between kids with disease and WM comes out to be 1.55 with 95% CI of [0.66, 3.63] Conclusion: The study suggests a larger number of oral health diseases in children of working mother as compared to non working mothers.