Relationship Between Mother’s Sense of Coherence and Oral Health of Babies aged 6-36 Months: APilot Study

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the association between oral health of babies aged 6-36 months and the Mother's Sense of Coherence (SOC). Material and Methods: A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted in the city of Diamantina -MG with a convenience sample of 32 mothers and their babies, attended at the Dental Clinic for Babies at the Federal University of the Vales do Jequitinhonha and Mucuri. The survey included the filling of dental records of babies, a questionnaire given to the mothers about sociodemographic and oral hygiene of their babies, and self-administered SOC-13. Babies were submitted to a clinical intra-oral examination for the detection of dental caries and initial lesions according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Data were analyzed by the t test and Pearson's correlation (p<0.05). The size effect calculation proposed by Cohen was used to test the clinical significance of results. Results: The prevalence of dental caries was 40.0%. Maternal SOC had a variation between 35 and 59, with mean score of 47.7 (SD = 6.09). The monthly family income was more than two minimum wages for 51.6% of families. There was no statistically significant association between dental caries and maternal SOC (p = 0.646). Regarding monthly family income, there was a statistically significant association with maternal SOC (p = 0.005). Maternal SOC was also significantly associated with nocturnal oral hygiene of babies (p = 0.008). Conclusion: The mother's sense of coherence was not associated with dental caries and was associated with nocturnal oral hygiene of babies and with family monthly income.

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.…”

“…Six cohort and 11 cross‐sectional studies scored the maximum of 2 stars for comparability of the study groups. Dental caries assessment was considered adequate in the 7 cohort, the case–control and in 21 cross‐sectional studies.…”

“…The different measures of protective psychosocial factors and dental caries used in the meta‐analyses are described in Data . In all, 21 of the 35 studies provided data for 11 distinct meta‐analyses according to the psychosocial factors, age group and study design.…”