ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Dental caries is the most common oral disease in children. Dental caries is a multifactorial disease both etiologic factor and risk factor. Other factors that could not find in clinical examination or radiograph, but contribute to the disease are assumed as risk factor. A child as an un independent individual will be influenced by external risk factor, especially from the mother. Mother is an important figure for children character building. Risk factor detection is an essential effort to decrease the prevalence of dental caries. AIM: The aim of this study is to identify caries risk factor in children aged 3-5 years old in Indonesia. SETTING AND DESIGN: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted using a universal sampling protocol. METHODS: Subject is 248 pairs of mother and children. Clinical examination and questionnaire interview are applied on the subject. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The association between caries risk factors and caries cases on children were tested using bivariate analysis, followed by identifying the most dominant factors using logistic regression multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Each caries risk factor has a significance level which could distinct to children's caries case. After multivariate logistic regression, maternal attitude and how to drink milk bottle were the most risk factors to childhood caries (odds ratio: 3.61; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.18-11.01 and 7.69; 95% CI: 1.84-32.13 respecting). CONCLUSIONS: Many risk factors contribute to childhood caries, originated from both children themselves and mothers. Caries risk factor identification is an important role in preventing childhood caries.
ABSTRACT
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Predicting caries risk in children can be done by identifying caries risk factors. It is an important measure which contributes to best understanding of the cariogenic profile of the patient. Identification could be done by clinical examination and answering the questionnaire. We arrange the study to verify the questionnaire validation for predicting caries risk in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted on 62 pairs of mothers and their children, aged between 3 and 5 years. The questionnaire consists of 10 questions concerning mothers' attitude and knowledge about oral health. The reliability and validity test is based on Cronbach's alpha and correlation coefficient value. RESULTS: All question are reliable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.873) and valid (Corrected item-total item correlation >0.4). CONCLUSIONS: Five questionnaires of mother's attitude about oral health and five questionnaires of mother's knowledge about oral health are reliable and valid for predicting caries risk in children.