Children's Dental Health Linked to Parents'

(February 2, 2010) - It appears that the saying, "Like father, like son," holds true when it comes to dental health. (Read about "Oral Health") Whether or not children receive regular dental care is strongly associated with their parents' history of seeking dental care. A new report, to appear in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to analyze the relationship between parents' and children's dental visits in a nationally representative sample.

"When parents don't see the dentist, their children are much less likely to see the dentist," says Inyang Isong, MD, MPH, the study's lead author. "We also found that the children of parents who have put off their own dental care for financial reasons are more likely to have their care deferred due to cost as well. It looks like strategies to promote oral health should focus on the whole family."

The study involved over 6,000 families. Among parents who reported seeing a dentist during the preceding year, 86 percent of children had also seen a dentist; but only 64 percent of the children of parents with no recent dental visit had seen a dentist during the previous 12 months. In addition, among parents who put off their own dental care because of financial considerations, 27 percent of their children also had dental care deferred. In contrast, only 3 percent of children whose parents had not put off their own care had their dental care deferred.

The study's authors note that dental caries - tooth decay - is of one of the most prevalent childhood diseases and is particularly common among minority and low-income children.