Concordance between Mother’s Perception and Child Dental Caries Experience

Objectives: Mothers play a primary role in the health of their child’s teeth. This role may be of particular importance for children in Appalachia who have increased caries experiences relative to children in other regions of the United States. We examined the degree to which child dental caries experience was in concordance with mother’s perception of the health of her child’s teeth, and how concordance varied by sociodemographic factors.
Methods: We obtained cross-sectional data on mother-child dyads with children under six years-old through the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia (COHRA) study. A community-based sample of 815 mother-child dyads were interviewed and clinically examined in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. We estimated the association between mother’s perception of her child’s oral health status and her child’s dental caries experience using descriptive statistics and an unadjusted zero-inflated negative binomial model. We compared sociodemographic factors between concordant and non-concordant mother-child dyads using chi-square tests.
Results: Mother’s perception of child oral health status was associated with child dental caries experience (p<0.001). Two-thirds of mother-child dyads showed concordance between the mother perception of her child’s oral health status and the child’s dental caries experience (n=522, 64%). Concordance was associated with younger child age and having child dental insurance (p<0.01).
Conclusions: On average, mothers in the COHRA study accurately perceived their child’s dental caries experience. The extent to which mother-child dyads were accurate varied by child age and child dental insurance status. Mother’s awareness of her child’s oral health status could be used to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies, particularly for young children vulnerable to dental caries.