Socioeconomic Factors and Oral Health-Related Behaviours Associated with Dental Caries in Preschool Children from Central Italy (Province of Ascoli Piceno)

Abstract

Background. Dental caries is a serious oral health concern with high prevalence in preschool children. Aim. To assess the association among oral health-related behaviors, socioeconomic factors, and dental caries in Italian preschool children. Design. 513 preschool children from 3 to 6 years of age, enrolled in nursery schools in central Italy, represent the population of the present study. The children underwent dental clinical examination and were divided on the basis of their caries experience in the primary dentition (“Yes” or “No”). Nonparametric analysis and univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were applied to evaluate the contribution of oral health-related behaviors and socioeconomic factors to the caries experience in the primary dentition. Results. 419 children were caries free, and 94 children had caries experience in the primary dentition, corresponding to the 18.4% of participants. Different oral health-related behaviors and socioeconomic factors resulted to be associated with caries development. In particular, the mother’s foreign nationality results in a strong predictive factor. Conclusions. The multivariate logistic model revealed factors significantly affecting caries experience in the primary dentition, which were the mother’s nationality, the number of dental visits in a year, and the personal impression by the mother.

Oral Hygiene in a Sample of Children/Adolescents Living in Family-Homes from the Province of Milan (Italy): A Pilot Study

“…Recently, a systematic review underlined that a proper education about dental procedure was demonstrated to have a role in the control of pain and anxiety generally associated with dental procedure. [32] The impact of the socio-economic level on oral health has been recently investigated and shown to have an effect mostly for pre-school children, for which the level of education of the parents can play a role [10], and also for the interceptive diagnosis of the dental problems to prevent, such as caries or malocclusion.…”

“…Some studies have demonstrated that factors such as age, race, gender, oral hygiene habits, socio-economical status, and oral hygiene education can define the state of oral hygiene, and improving the knowledge on oral hygiene can bring to a greater awareness, especially regarding children and adolescents [8][9][10][11].…”

Impact of Lifestyle Variables on Oral Diseases and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Children of Milan (Italy)

“…The prevalence of caries in European children seems therefore to assess at over 30% (20 to 90% according to the European Regional Office of WHO [ 27 ]. A trend towards decreasing caries prevalence in school children has been described in several studies, nevertheless some authors have observed a plateau in the decline of caries prevalence in pre-schoolers in the recent years, especially in immigrant children or children from a low socio-economic level [ 19 , 27 ]. A limitation of our study consists in the fact that no oral examination was performed on the children and therefore the answers concerning disease prevalence could not be clinically confirmed.…”

Prevalence of Caries and Associated Risk Factors in a Representative Group of Preschool Children from an Urban Area with High Income in Milan Province, Italy

“…The present project was organized in the following way. Firstly, a questionnaire about lifestyles, eating habits and oral hygiene was prepared by a group of expert dentists on the basis of potential variables observed after a summary of the previous literature [16][17][18][19][20][21]. The quantitative content validity of the questionnaire was obtained using Waltz and Bausell's method.…”