Sivakumar Agalya, Venkatarayappa Jagannatha G, Tirupati Nagaland, Benedict Cyril H, Gunasekaran Vidhya, Babu Naziya K
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Chettinad Dental College and Research Institute, Chennai, IND.
Cureus. 2024 Nov 4;16(11):e72989. doi: 10.7759/cureus.72989. eCollection 2024 Nov.
Mothers are the primary caregivers throughout early childhood, playing a vital role in developing their child's oral health behavior, as oral conditions in primary teeth can have a considerable negative impact on the child's growth. This study aims to assess the association between maternal oral hygiene status, caries experience, and oral health behavior (OHB) toward their children.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 226 mothers of children aged nine months to three years visiting the primary health centers (PHCs) in urban (n = 113) and rural (n = 113) areas of Chengalpattu district, India. A 24-item questionnaire assessed and compared their OHB toward child oral health. Maternal oral hygiene status and caries experience were also assessed. Mann-Whitney-U test was used to compare the OHB scores between mothers from rural and urban areas, and Spearman's rank correlation (rho) was used to find the relationship between OHB with oral hygiene and the caries experience of the participants.
The results showed significant differences in OHB scores between mothers from rural (mean rank: 86.78) and urban (mean rank: 140.22) backgrounds (p <0.001). Urban respondents had significantly higher knowledge (mean rank: 161.09 vs 65.91 for rural) and better oral health practices (mean rank: 132.00 vs 95.00 for rural) compared to their rural counterparts. However, rural respondents significantly showed more positive attitudes than urban respondents (mean rank: 124.80 vs. 102.20 for urban). A strong negative correlation (Spearman's rho of -0.83) was observed between knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) scores and Oral Hygiene Index-Simplified (OHI-S) in urban participants, and a moderately negative correlation (-0.683) was observed in rural participants.
Maternal oral hygiene has a significant influence on the OHB toward their children. This study highlights the critical influence of maternal oral health and demographic factors on the OHB of their children, underscoring the need for targeted public health interventions to address these disparities arising out of rural-urban differences and improve the oral health outcomes for both mothers and children. Mothers can thus explicitly play an indispensable role in fostering positive attitudes and healthy habits toward dental health care in children, regardless of the sociodemographic variations.
母亲是幼儿期的主要照料者，在培养孩子的口腔健康行为方面发挥着至关重要的作用，因为乳牙的口腔状况会对孩子的成长产生相当大的负面影响。本研究旨在评估母亲的口腔卫生状况、龋齿经历与她们对孩子的口腔健康行为（OHB）之间的关联。
对印度钦加尔帕图区城乡地区（城市n = 113，农村n = 113）前往初级卫生中心（PHC）就诊的226名9个月至3岁儿童的母亲进行了一项横断面研究。一份包含24个条目的问卷评估并比较了她们对孩子口腔健康的OHB。还评估了母亲的口腔卫生状况和龋齿经历。采用曼-惠特尼-U检验比较城乡母亲的OHB得分，并使用斯皮尔曼等级相关性（rho）来找出OHB与参与者口腔卫生及龋齿经历之间的关系。
结果显示，城乡背景母亲的OHB得分存在显著差异（农村母亲平均秩次：86.78，城市母亲平均秩次：140.22，p <0.001）。与农村母亲相比，城市受访者的知识水平显著更高（平均秩次：城市为161.09，农村为65.91），口腔健康行为也更好（平均秩次：城市为132.00，农村为95.00）。然而，农村受访者的态度比城市受访者更为积极（平均秩次：农村为124.80，城市为102.20）。在城市参与者中，知识、态度和行为（KAP）得分与简化口腔卫生指数（OHI-S）之间存在强烈的负相关（斯皮尔曼rho为 -0.83），在农村参与者中观察到中度负相关（-0.683）。
母亲的口腔卫生对她们对孩子的OHB有显著影响。本研究强调了母亲口腔健康和人口统计学因素对其子女OHB的关键影响，强调需要有针对性的公共卫生干预措施来解决城乡差异导致的这些差距，并改善母亲和儿童的口腔健康结果。因此，无论社会人口统计学差异如何，母亲在培养孩子对口腔保健的积极态度和健康习惯方面都能发挥不可或缺的作用。
