The Relationship Between Life Course Factors, Parental Demographics, Dental Coping Beliefs and Its Influence on Adolescents Dental Visit: a Cross Sectional Study

Evaluation of Parents' Perceptions of the Dental and Oral Health in Children with Disability in the Bandung City

Background

Children with disability have a risk of poor dental health because of their mental and physical limitations. They depend on caregivers in their daily life Parents have an important role in maintaining children's dental health. Parents attitudes can be influenced by parents' perceptions of children's dental health. This study explored parental perceptions regarding the dental and oral health of children with special needs in Bandung City.

Methods

This study utilized a descriptive observational research using a cross-sectional survey. The subjects in this study were 239 parents who had children aged 0-18 years who were taken from 9 special schools. The variables of this study were parents' perceptions and the dental and oral health status of children with disability. Primary data were obtained through a validated questionnaire.

Results

Parents' perceptions of the dental and oral health of children with disability consists of 84.94% good enough perceptions, 12.13% good perceptions, and 2.93% bad perceptions.

Conclusion

Most parents have a fairly good perception of the dental and oral health of children with special needs.

Health literacy and self-efficacy associations with non-adherence to dental treatment among young adults

The aim of this study was to investigate associations of health literacy (HL), general self-efficacy (GSE), and sociodemographic variables with non-adherence to dental treatment among Brazilian young adults. This is a cross-sectional study based on a cohort study of 248 young adults aged 19 to 25 years followed up in an earlier study. The participants completed the perceived general self-efficacy scale (GSE), a questionnaire on socioeconomic and demographic variables and were examined for oral conditions. HL was measured using the Brazilian version of the health literacy questionnaire (HLQ-Br), which provides nine individual scores based on an average of the items within each of the nine scales. Dental treatment adherence was evaluated as the decision of young adults to seek a dentist to finish the recommended restorative treatment for dental caries. The effects of HL domains on the adherence to dental treatment were analyzed by logistic regression and the effect was adjusted for sex, age, family income, paternal and maternal education, type of housing, and self-efficacy. The results of the adjusted analysis showed associations among young adults who did not adhere to dental treatment with lower self-efficacy levels, living in non-owner-occupied homes, and lower HL levels in almost all of the HL domains (p < 0.05). Only the HLQ6 domain "Ability to actively engage with healthcare providers" was not associated with the outcome (p>0.05). Adherence to dental treatment in primary care among young adults was associated with their general self-efficacy levels, socioeconomic characteristics, and individual's lower HL aspects.

Life course socioeconomic inequalities and oral health status in later life: ELSI-Brazil

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between life course socioeconomic conditions and two oral health outcomes (edentulism and use of dental prostheses among individuals with severe tooth loss) among older Brazilian adults.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study with data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil) which includes information on persons aged 50 years or older residing in 70 municipalities across the five great Brazilian regions. Regression models using life history information were used to investigate the relation between childhood (parental education) and adulthood (own education and wealth) socioeconomic circumstances and edentulism and use of dental prostheses. Slope index of inequality and relative index of inequality for edentulism and use of dental prostheses assessed socioeconomic inequalities in both outcomes.

RESULTS

Approximately 28.8% of the individuals were edentulous and among those with severe tooth loss 80% used dental prostheses. Significant absolute and relative inequalities were found for edentulism and use of dental prostheses. The magnitude of edentulism was higher among individuals with lower levels of socioeconomic position during childhood, irrespective of their current socioeconomic position. Absolute and relative inequalities related to the use of dental prostheses were not related to childhood socioeconomic position.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings substantiate the association between life course socioeconomic circumstances and oral health in older adulthood, although use of dental prostheses was not related to childhood socioeconomic position. The study also highlights the long-lasting relation between childhood socioeconomic inequalities and oral health through the life course.