Associations between overprotective parenting and children’s cooperation during dental treatment, toothbrushing behaviour and dental caries experience

Authors:

ABSTRACT

Aim

This study explored the association between overprotective parenting and children’s behaviour during dental treatment, toothbrushing behaviour and children’s dental caries experience in the Netherlands.

Results

120 children were included (65 girls). Higher levels of overprotective parenting were significantly associated with more disruptive behaviour during dental treatment (r=0.510, p<0.001) and higher dmft (r=0.251, p=0.006). Overprotective parenting was also associated with a lower frequency of daily toothbrushing (p=0.027), lower frequency of re-brushing by parents (p=0.029), more experienced problems with toothbrushing (p=0.037) and lower parental self-efficacy (p=0.006). However, associations with toothbrushing frequency, parental self-efficacy and children’s dental caries experience did not remain significant after adjustment for confounders.

Conclusion

Overprotective parenting is significantly associated with more disruptive behaviour of children during dental treatment and more difficult toothbrushing behaviour.

Study Design

Caregivers of five to six-year-old-children who visited general dental practices or paediatric dental referral practices for treatment were invited to participate in this cross-sectional study. They completed questionnaires about overprotective parenting and children’s toothbrushing behaviour. The Venham scale was used to assess children’s behaviour during dental treatment. The number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft) was collected from dental records. Spearman correlation and regression analyses were used to test associations between the variables.

PLUMX METRICS