The influence of oral health behavior and caries status of mothers on their children caries status

Dental caries is a multifactorial disease affects large segment of population worldwide. This study aimed at evaluate the relationship between oral health behaviors including the consumption of sugar/acid diet of both mothers and their children on the caries status of the children. The relationship between the caries status of mothers and children was also evaluated. This cross-sectional study was performed in rural villages near the capital of our country. The dentition status of 57 mother-child pairs was evaluated using World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for oral health surveys. Oral health behaviors and diet assessment of both mothers and children were investigated through WHO suggested questionnaires. Pearson and Spearman correlations, independent sample t-test, and linear regression analysis were used for the statistical analysis. The Significance level was set at 0.05. Mean DMFT values were 16.6 and 1.6 for mothers and children, respectively, whereas children dmft mean value was 4.3. Children of mothers who consumed diet with high sugar and acid content had worse caries status (0.010≤P-value≤0.013). Caries status of children had weak correlation coefficients (0.2-0.4) with mothers’ caries status though statistically significant (0.008≤P-value≥0.048). Linear regression analysis revealed statistically significant models (P0.05) with R values≤0.2. Although some oral health behaviors and sugar/acid-rich diet of both mothers and their children correlated with the caries status of the children, these correlations were generally weak to intermediate. The current study suggested that oral health behaviors enhancement of both mothers and children could be one of these activities.