Association of mothers’ parenting practices and clinical and reported oral health outcomes in primary-school age girls Alkaltham Nora Saud1,*, Alzahrani Lujain Ali2, Alhorish Nada Khalid2, Tantawi Maha El3 1Department of Substitutive Dental Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia 2General Practitioners, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia 3Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt *Address for Correspondence: Nora Saud Alkaltham, Department of Substitutive Dental Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Phone: +966560607711, E-mail: nsalkaltham@gmail.com
Online published on 19 September, 2020. Abstract Purpose This study was to assess the relationship between mothers’ positive parenting, disciplining, and authoritative parenting practices and clinically assessed and child-reported oral health in a primary school-age girl. Methods A crosssectional study included girls in primary schools in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, in 2018. Clinical examination assessed caries experience in primary and permanent teeth, plaque, and gingivitis. The girls responded to questionnaires assessing sociodemographic background, dental behaviors, and reported oral health outcomes. Three questionnaires assessed the frequency of disciplining practices, positive parenting practices, and authoritative parenting. Multivariate general linear regression was used to assess the relationship between outcome variables (clinical and child-reported outcomes) and explanatory variables (parenting practices) controlling for confounders (sociodemographic variables and dental behaviors). Results The response rate was 92.5% (284/307). The girls were 11 years on average, with 62% nonuniversity educated fathers and mothers. Frequent disciplining was associated with impact on daily life (B = 0.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.05, 0.65) and poorer perceived dental health (B = −0.20, 95% CI = −0.39, −0.001). Authoritative parenting was associated with fewer permanent teeth with caries experience (B = −0.07, 95% CI = −0.12, −0.02). Frequent positive parenting practices were associated with more sound primary teeth (B = 1.46, 95% CI= 0.15, 2.77), fewer sound permanent teeth (B = −2.66, 95% CI = −4.36, −0.96), and better perceived dental health (B = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.09, 0.60). Conclusion Authoritative parenting was associated with good clinical oral health outcomes and frequent disciplining was negatively associated with child-reported outcomes. Frequent positive parenting practices had a positive association with the health of primary teeth but not permanent teeth. Top Keywords Caries, Oral health behavior, Parenting practices. Top |