Association between Sense of Coherence and Dental Caries Experience in Adolescents

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the association between sense of coherence and dental caries experience in adolescents. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 adolescents aged 11 to 15 years old who were attending the Debora Feijo State School in the city of Recife (Brazil). Information was collected on sociodemographic data -age, gender, school failure and number of residents per home. Sense of coherence (SOC) was evaluated using the SOC-13 questionnaire and the dental caries experience was determined using the DMFT index. For statistical analysis, the correlation test of Spearman and the association tests of Mann-Whitney and KruskalWallis were used. The significance level was set at 5% (p<0.05). Results: A negative correlation was observed between the SOC and DMFT index (p < 0.001) which indicates that the higher the SOC, the lesser the DMFT. The mean SOC score was greater among adolescents with no dental caries experience. The SOC score was lower among those who failed school more often and those who lived with a greater number of people. Conclusion: The SOC-13 questionnaire can be considered a positive predictor of oral health status, representing an important tool in the establishment of health promotion actions focused on adolescents.

The Association between Sense of Coherence and Dental Caries in Low Social Status Schoolchildren

“…Other studies highlighted the protective role of SOC by reducing the impact caused by adverse situations, such as illness or even war. With regard to oral health, few studies have assessed the relationship between SOC and dental caries in the infant population, and the findings are in line with the present study [Bonanato et al, 2009a;Lyra et al, 2015;Viswanath and Krishna, 2015]. One study demonstrated that adolescents whose mothers had a higher SOC score had lower levels of dental caries and gingival bleeding and were less likely to visit the dentist in urgent need than those whose mothers had lower SOC scores [Freire et al, 2001].…”

“…The literature has shown that oral and general health status are related to social and psychological issues [Freire Bonanato et al, 2009a;Coutinho and Heimer, 2014;Lyra et al, 2015;Viswanath and Krishna, 2015]. An integrative review of the literature showed that several studies have shown that a strong SOC was associated with different health behaviors, such as improved oral hygiene, conscious use of medicines, not taking up smoking, lower consumption of alcohol, and the more frequent practice of physical activities [Coutinho and Heimer, 2014].…”

Protective psychosocial factors and dental caries in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The characteristics of the 35 selected studies are presented according to the age group and type of study. Table presents the main characteristics of the 7 cohort studies: 5 involving children and 2 involving early adolescents; one case–control study in children; and 27 cross‐sectional studies: 14 involving children and 13 involving early adolescents. The sample sizes varied from 32 to 981 in children and from 100 to 2014 in adolescents.…”

“…Most studies in children and adolescents were conducted in schools. The protective psychosocial factors investigated were as follows: health locus of control (12 studies), self‐efficacy (11 studies), sense of coherence (10 studies), social support (5 studies), self‐esteem (3 studies), and social network (2 studies). Coping, resilience, family functioning, self‐concept, and optimism were assessed in one study.…”

“…The risk of bias assessment, according to the specific Newcastle–Ottawa scales for cohort, case–control and cross‐sectional studies, of the included studies is presented in Data , , , respectively. One cohort and 13 cross‐sectional studies were considered of low quality. Six cohort, 1 case–control, and 14 cross‐sectional studies were assessed as moderate quality.…”