TY - JOUR
T1 - International comparisons of health inequalities in childhood dental caries
AU - Pine, Cynthia M
AU - Adair, Pauline M
AU - Nicoll, Alison D
AU - Burnside, Girvan
AU - Petersen, Poul Erik
AU - Beighton, David
AU - Gillett, Angela
AU - Anderson, Ruth
AU - Anwar, Shahid
AU - Brailsford, Susan
AU - Broukal, Zdenek
AU - Chestnutt, Ivor G
AU - Declerck, Dominique
AU - Ping, Feng Xi
AU - Ferro, Roberto
AU - Freeman, Ruth
AU - Gugushe, Tshepo
AU - Harris, Rebecca
AU - Lin, Brent
AU - Lo, Edward C M
AU - Maupomé, Gerardo
AU - Moola, Mohamed Hanif
AU - Naidoo, Sudeshni
AU - Ramos-Gomez, Francisco
AU - Samaranayake, Lakshman P
AU - Shahid, Swarngit
AU - Skeie, Marit Slåttelid
AU - Splieth, Christian
AU - Sutton, Betty King
AU - Soo, Teo Choo
AU - Whelton, Helen
PY - 2004/3
Y1 - 2004/3
N2 - Objective: To undertake formative studies investigating how the experience of dental caries in young children living in diverse settings relates to familial and cultural perceptions and beliefs, oral health-related behaviour and oral microflora.Participants: The scientific consortium came from 27 sites in 17 countries, each site followed a common protocol. Each aimed to recruit 100 families with children aged 3 or 4 years, half from deprived backgrounds, and within deprived and non-deprived groups, half to be "caries-free" and half to have at least 3 decayed teeth.Outcome measures: Parents completed a questionnaire, developed using psychological models, on their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours related to their child's oral health. 10% of children had plaque sampled.Results: 2,822 children and families were recruited. In multivariate analyses, reported toothbrushing behaviours that doubled the odds of being caries-free were a combination of brushing before age 1, brushing twice a day and adult involvement in brushing. Analyses combining beliefs, attitudes and behaviours found that parents' perceived ability to implement regular toothbrushing into their child's daily routine was the most important predictor of whether children had caries and this factor persisted in children from disadvantaged communities. 90% of children with lactobacillus had caries.Conclusions: Parental beliefs and attitudes play a key role in moderating oral health related behaviour in young children and in determining whether they develop caries. Further research is indicated to determine whether supporting the development of parenting skills would reduce dental caries in children from disadvantaged communities independent of ethnic origin.
AB - Objective: To undertake formative studies investigating how the experience of dental caries in young children living in diverse settings relates to familial and cultural perceptions and beliefs, oral health-related behaviour and oral microflora.Participants: The scientific consortium came from 27 sites in 17 countries, each site followed a common protocol. Each aimed to recruit 100 families with children aged 3 or 4 years, half from deprived backgrounds, and within deprived and non-deprived groups, half to be "caries-free" and half to have at least 3 decayed teeth.Outcome measures: Parents completed a questionnaire, developed using psychological models, on their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours related to their child's oral health. 10% of children had plaque sampled.Results: 2,822 children and families were recruited. In multivariate analyses, reported toothbrushing behaviours that doubled the odds of being caries-free were a combination of brushing before age 1, brushing twice a day and adult involvement in brushing. Analyses combining beliefs, attitudes and behaviours found that parents' perceived ability to implement regular toothbrushing into their child's daily routine was the most important predictor of whether children had caries and this factor persisted in children from disadvantaged communities. 90% of children with lactobacillus had caries.Conclusions: Parental beliefs and attitudes play a key role in moderating oral health related behaviour in young children and in determining whether they develop caries. Further research is indicated to determine whether supporting the development of parenting skills would reduce dental caries in children from disadvantaged communities independent of ethnic origin.
KW - age factors
KW - attitudes to health
KW - cultural deprivation
KW - dental plaque
KW - health behaviour
KW - Lactobacillus
KW - parent-child relations
KW - toothbrushing
UR - http://www.cdhjournal.org/
M3 - Article
C2 - 15072481
VL - 21
SP - 121
EP - 130
JO - Community Dental Health
JF - Community Dental Health
SN - 0265-539X
IS - 1 Suppl
ER -