Mother-Child Perspective on the Oral Health Behavior of Turkish Children

OBJECTIVE: To assess association between oral health behavior among school children and their mothers, using subjects from different socio-economic backgrounds. METHODS: Two schools were selected by cluster sampling from high and low socio-economic districts to represent general population of a province (Kadiköy) in Istanbul. Data was collected of 611 school children aged 10-12 and their mothers with matched pairs of questionnaires completed at schools (97%) and home (88%). Dental health examination based on WHO criteria was performed on 584 children (95%).RESULTS: Private school children's (PRSC) mothers, who were more likely to have had higher education (95% at least high school) than public school children's (PUSC) mothers (11%), reported better self-assessed dental health (49% worse than average) than PUSC mothers (72%), (p = 0•00). Irregular dental visits (DV) and low tooth brushing (TB) frequency of mothers showed similar differences (p= 0•00; OR = 0•6: CI95% 0•02-0•15, p= 0•00; OR= 0•1: CI95% 0•06-0•23), respectively. Regular TB and DV frequencies among PUSC were lower than those of PRSC (p= 0•00; OR= 0•4: CI95% 0•27-0•58, p= 0•00; OR= 0•3: CI95% 0•2-0•5), respectively. Mean DMFS, lower among PRSC compared to PUSC (2.8 ± 2.8, 4•4 ± 3•5, p < 0•05), was negatively associated with maternal education level and self-assessed dental health in regression analysis (p= 0•00), while DV and TB frequency of both mothers and children remained insignificant. Of PUSC, children with mothers reporting low TB frequency tended to behave similarly to their mothers more often than those with mothers with high TB frequency (p= 0•21; OR= 1•7: CI95% 1•1-2•7). Children of PUSC mothers with higher education reported more regular DV than the ones with lower education (p= 0•04). These associations were not found among PRSC. CONCLUSIONS: Oral health behavior of children seemed to follow that of their mothers and was influenced by socio-economic status.