Dental Health, Dental Anxiety and Xylitol - Their Mutual Relationship

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate health behaviour in the dentally anxious and non-anxious mothers and its effect on their children's dental health parallel to the effect of xylitol on plaque Mutans Streptococci counts in mothers and their small children. Methods: Mothers with high Mutans Streptococci level (105 CFU/ml) and different anxiety levels by Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS ≤ 8 or DAS ≥ 15) with their newly born babies (120 mother-child pairs) were enrolled for this study. All mothers were divided into four groups according to their dental fear and xylitol consumption: 1) no dental anxiety (DAS ≤ 8) + xylitol; 2) no dental anxiety (DAS ≤ 8), no xylitol; 3) dental anxiety (DAS ≥ 15) + xylitol; 4) dental anxiety (DAS ≥ 15), no xylitol. Prevalence of dental caries and the level of Mutans Streptococci in their children were determined at the age of 2 and 3 years. Results: Dentally anxious mothers had the habit of consuming more sweets (p<0.05). Statistically significant correlation was found between DAS and mothers' self-reported level of education (p=0.001). The DAS-score was significantly higher in the mothers with high MS-levels (p=0.001). Mothers with high dental fear had statistically significantly higher number of decayed (p<0.001) and missing (p<0.05) teeth and lower number of filled teeth (p<0.05). The highest level of dental caries was found in 2 and 3 years old children, whose mother's were in DAS > 15 no-xylitol group. Conclusion: Dental anxiety among mothers has effect on eating and habits of teeth cleaning in mothers and their children. Mothers with strong dental anxiety and high MS-levels are few but they need an exceptionally careful planning of caries prevention for their children and themselves.