Influence of maternal attitudes and parenting style on children's dental caries experience

Objective: To evaluate the effect parental attitudes have on the dental caries experience of children. Method: The cross-sectional observational study was conducted at Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey, from March to September 2019, and comprised mothers of children who came to the Department of Paediatric Dentistry for treatment of children. Multi-variable poisson regression model was run to predict prevalence of dental caries. Mothers' attitudes in family were measured using the parental attitude research instrument scores. Data was analysed using Stata 15. Results: There were 258 mothers of as many children aged 6-15 years. Among the children, 150(58%) were boys and 108(42%) were girls. 'Rejection of traditional housewife role' and 'level of discipline' had a statistically negative correlation (p<0.05), while 'level of marital conflict'had a statistically positive correlation with the prevalence of caries. Conclusion: Healthy family environment and empowering parental style had a positive effect on the oral health of children.