Correlation between the Oral Health Status of Mothers and Their Children: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: This study was conducted to assess the Correlation between the oral health status of mothers and their children.

Material and methods: The study was conducted on a sample of 160 pairs of children of 8-12years age and their mothers, who reported to the department of Paediatric & Preventive Dentistry, V S Dental College & Hospital, Bangalore. The aims and procedure of the study was explained to the mothers and the informed consent was obtained from them prior to the study. Children between 8-12 years of age and mothers who gave informed consent were included in the study. Children whose mothers were not residing with them or physically or mentally handicapped or medically compromised children had been excluded from the study. Each mother-child pair underwent intraoral examination for dental caries status. Examination was performed by single trained personnel under artificial light with mouth mirror and probe. To evaluate the dental status, DMFT index was recorded according to WHO 2013 criteria and to assess the gingival health, oral hygiene simplified index (OHI-S) was recorded for mothers and their children. The correlation between the oral health status of mother and their children was analysed. Data was entered in the spreadsheets and was analyzed using SPSS version 19. Pearson correlation test was done to determine the association between mother and their children caries status. Level of significance for the various correlations was set at P < 0.05.

Results: The overall mean DMFT was 4.84±3.68. The overall mean def was 5.46±3.31. The Overall mean OHI-S was 2.52±1.07. The Overall mean OHI-S among children was 1.91±0.88. In the present study, a strong correlation is seen between DMFT of mothers and def of children which means that as there is an increase in the DMFT of the mothers, there was a significant increase in the def of the children (r=0.613, p=0.00). Similarly, a good correlation was seen between OHI-S of mothers and children which mean that with an increase in the OHI-S of the mothers, there was a significant increase in the OHI-S of the children (r=0.617, p=0.00).

Conclusion: In conclusion, it was found that mothers’ dental caries and oral health status had a significant direct correlation to the dental caries and oral health status of their children.