Relationship between children's oral health behaviors and parents'oral health knowledge and caries in children

BAI Jie

Abstract：Objective:To investigate the oral health behaviors of children with high and no caries and parents'oral health knowledge,and to analyze the influencing factors of children's dental caries.Methods:Clinical data of 440 cases of children with high caries(high caries group)admitted from January 2020 to June 2023 were retrospectively analyzed,and 100 cases of children without caries(no caries group)were included as controls.To evaluate the oral health status of children in the high caries group,compare the oral health behavior of children and parents'oral health knowledge be-tween the two groups,and analyze the influencing factors of caries occurrence in children.Results:Among the 440 chil-dren with high caries,the proportion of children aged 3～6 years was the highest,the prevalence of left and right maxil-lary central incisor caries was the highest,the prevalence of gingival inflammation was 22.95%,the mean number of dental plaque was 3.08,and the incidence of enamel defect or incomplete was 35.91%.The daily behavior and lifestyle,health services,oral protection measures and total score of children in the high caries group were lower than those in the no caries group(P＜0.05).The score of parents'oral health knowledge in high caries group was lower than that in no caries group(P＜0.05),and the score＜7 was higher than that in no caries group(P＜0.05).The results of unifactor analysis showed that the proportion of children with high caries was higher in those whose main caregivers were grand-parents,whose highest education level was junior high school or below,whose caregivers brushed their teeth not daily,had enamel defects or incomplete teeth,scored≤10 points in oral health behavior survey,and scored＜7 points in par-ents'oral health knowledge questionnaire(P＜0.05).Logistics regression analysis showed that the main caregiver and caregiver's highest education level were independent risk factors for high caries incidence in children(P＜0.05),and the scores of oral health behavior questionnaire and parents'oral health knowledge questionnaire were protective factors for high caries incidence in children(P＜0.05).Conclusion:The oral health behavior of children with high caries and the o-ral health knowledge of parents are worse than those of children without caries,which are the main influencing factors of caries in children.