232 - Association of Parental Social Support and Caries in Latino Children

Friday, May 26, 2023

1:20 PM – 1:35 PM

Location: Exhibit Hall

Has Audio

Presenting Author(s)

Casey J. Lally, DMD (she/her/hers)

Pediatric Dentistry Resident
Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO
Children's Hospital Colorado
Denver, Colorado, United States

Co-Author(s)

TT

Tamanna Tiwari, BDS MDS MPH

Associate Professor
University of Colorado Denver School of Dental Medicine
Aurora, Colorado, United States
MS

Madysen Schreiber, MPH

University of Colorado

Research Mentor(s)

TT

Tamanna Tiwari, BDS MDS MPH

Associate Professor
University of Colorado Denver School of Dental Medicine
Aurora, Colorado, United States

Program Director(s)

CL

Cristina Leon-Pineda, DMD, MPH, MSDS

Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, Colorado, United States

Purpose: This report describes parental social support of Latino caregivers and its correlation to the development of dental caries in their children.

Methods: A cross-sectional study design was utilized to assess the study population of 157 caregiver-child triads from the Children’s Hospital Colorado Dental Clinic. Basic Research Factors Questionnaire survey was utilized to assess caregivers’ oral health knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and other psychosocial measures with the main predictor variable being social support. Bivariate associations between the independent variables and dmfs were conducted. All of the independent variables with a bivariate association of P < .2 with the outcome variable were included in the multivariable linear regression model.

Results: Dental caries in children were significantly associated with less overall parental social support (β = -10.10, p = 0.03). Overall social support was divided into four sub-categories: errand help, money help, childcare help, and transportation help. Dental caries decreased by 7.20 units for every 1-unit increase in transportation help (β = -7.70, p = 0.03). A significant association was observed between parental knowledge on dental utilization and dmfs (β = -2.70, p = 0.04). In the multivariable linear regression model, caries were significantly associated with social support (β = -11.18, p = 0.02) and knowledge on dental utilization (β = -3.84, p = 0.01).

Conclusions: This study concludes that a higher level of social support and knowledge on dental utilization for Latino caregivers is correlated to lower amounts of dental caries in their children.