Caregiver's oral health status as a risk factor for dental caries in children: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between caregiver's oral health status and children's caries by way of a systematic review.

RESEARCH

DESIGN

The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews was used to conduct this review and the PRISMA-P 2015 statement as a reporting guideline. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were established based on prescribed guidelines. PubMed, Cinahl, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched up to September 2023. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used for quality assessment. Frequency distribution of results was calculated for preschool children and children.

RESULTS

All 10 studies eligible for inclusion in the final review were assessed as a low risk of bias. In all studies, the mother was reported as the primary caregiver. A significant association between oral health of caregivers and their children was found for dental caries in seven of the 10 included studies; four for preschoolers and two for children in the deciduous dentition, and one for children in the permanent dentition.

CONCLUSIONS

This review emphasises the need for early intervention programs in addressing dental caries in children at the family-level, with particular focus on maternal oral health. These programmes should emphasise the critical role of caregivers and be tailored to identify and support high-risk households.