The association of parental dental anxiety and knowledge of caries preventive measures with psychological profiles and children’s oral health

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ABSTRACT

Aim

As parents and caregivers are responsible for the oral health of children, their own dental anxiety may negatively impact the oral health of their children. This study aimed to assess whether parental dental anxiety and knowledge of caries preventive measures are associated with their psychological profiles and their children’s oral health.

Methods

This case-control study involved parents, who were divided according to whether their children did or did not have active caries. The differences in Short version of the Dental Anxiety Inventory, and Knowledge of Caries Preventive Measures (KCPM) scores between the parents whose children have and do not have active caries was established by the Mann-Whitney U test (P < 0.05).

Results

The Mann-Whitney U test did not show any statistically significant difference in the S-DAI test or KCPM of parents regardless of whether their children had active caries or not. The number of active caries in children was statistically significantly affected by parental age (ß = 0.156, P = 0.002), education level (ß = - 0.742, P = 0.014), employment status (ß = - 1.410, P = 0.028), dental anxiety level (ß = - 0.048, P = 0.045) and KCPM (ß = - 0.094, P = 0.016).

Conclusion

Parental dental anxiety and knowledge of caries preventive measures are associated with the oral health of their children.

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