The relationship between mothers’ attitudes to diet and oral hygiene and caries risk in infants
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The aim of the study was to associate mothers’ attitudes to diet, oral hygiene, possible transfer of microbes and knowledge of caries preventive measures in relation to early childhood caries. A total of 127 pairs of mother/child were invited to participate in the study. After filling in the questionnaire, 94 children (mean age 11.15 months, SD=2.724) were orally examined and their dental status (dmft) was recorded. Saliva and dental plaque samples were taken both from children and their mothers and assessed for the presence of mutans streptococci (Dentocult® SM Strip mutans). SPSS Statistics 21, IBM Corporation, 2011 was uused. The analysis of questionnaire responses showed that sugar intake was not a risk factor for the development of dental caries in most of the infants involved in this study (77.2% of mothers did not sweeten beverages). A more significant risk factor was the absence of oral hygiene (21% of mothers did not clean infants’ teeth) and bacterial transmission from mother’s mouth to infants. Our results demonstrated a significant relationship between the presence of microbes in mothers and children (p<0.05). In addition, children with higher amounts of microbes showed higher dmft index. Decayed teeth in one-year-old infants were identified in 2.4 %.Mothers’ attitudes towards dietary habits were generally at a high level in our cohort, nevertheless, more profound education focused on further caries preventive measures is recommended. |
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