Mom's emotions has a bearing on child's dental health

A study has found a correlation between a mother's emotional health and education level during her child's earliest years. The study says that these factors affect child?s dental health at 14.

For these study researchers at the Case Western Reserve University, US, started with the oral health of the teenagers and worked backwards to age three to determine the factors that affected their oral health.

As a part of the study, mothers were interviewed but lead of the study Suchitra Nelson, professor of community dentistry at the Case Western Dental School, says that the child's primary caregiver can also be interviewed, the Journal of Dental Research states.

During the study, Nelson's team examined the teeth of 224 adolescent participants in a longitudinal study that followed very low birth weight and normal birth weight children.

In the course of study the researchers gathered health and medical information from the children and their mothers to assess the child's wellbeing at age three, eight and now 14 years.

During this study the researchers analyzed the teen's oral health. For this they counted number of decayed, filled or missing permanent teeth and assessed the level of dental plaque that indicates towards poor oral hygiene, says a Case Western statement.

Mothers were given a questionnaire to complete about preventative treatments from sealants to mouthwashes, sugary juice or soft drink consumption. The participant?s access to dental care and frequency of visits to a doctor was also analyzed.

The analysis of data showed that even with access to dental insurance, fluoride treatments and sealants as young children, it did not always prevent cavities by the age of 14, lead researcher Nelson.

--With inputs from IANS