Exposure to screen time and dental neglect

Abstract

Aim: Dental neglect is the failure of parents to meet a child's basic oral health needs and causes complications. Long screen time, and its health impact, is an important public health issue. This study is aimed at determining whether there is a relationship between screen time of children and parents and dental neglect. Methods: Two hundred and fifteen patients were included in this cross-sectional observational study. A questionnaire including questions exploring demographic data, children's life-styles and, screen time of both parents and children. A dental neglect scale was administered to the parents. The children's intraoral examinations were evaluated using the decayed, missing, filled teeth (dmft) and pulp, ulcers, fistula, abscess (pufa) indices. Results: Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that dental neglect was statistically significantly associated with brushing teeth unsupervised and infrequently, frequent snacking, rarely doing exercise, screen exposure at an early age and presence of dental plaque (P < 0.05). Long screen time was statistically significantly associated with high dmft scores, reflecting poor oral health. It was found that children who did not attend daycare, had statistically significantly longer exposure to screens, compared to those who attended daycare. Conclusions: Early exposure to screens and long-term screen use are associated with adverse outcomes pertaining to children's oral health.

Problematic media use is associated with poor oral health in Turkish school-age children: a pilot cross-sectional study

“…Screen time has been reported to be associated with dental caries in children [ 14 ]. Also, poor oral health was found to be associated with early exposure to screens and long-term screen use in Turkish preschool children [ 15 ]. However, to our knowledge, there is no published research in the literature investigating the probable relationship between PMU and oral health in children.…”