Abstract

Doc number: 1071

Abstract

Background: Dental caries among preschool children is highly prevalent in many less-developed countries.

Methods: A model which explored the factors related to children's dental caries was tested in this study using structural equation modeling. Caregivers of children aged 5 years were surveyed on their socioeconomic status, and their oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices. In addition, information on their children's oral health practices, dental insurance and dental service utilization were collected. Examination of caries was conducted on all children who returned fully completed questionnaires.

Results: The results showed that socioeconomic factors influenced children's oral health practices through the impact of caregivers' oral health knowledge and practices; that caregivers' oral health knowledge affected children's oral health practices through the influence of caregivers' oral health attitudes and practices; and finally, that children's oral health practices were linked directly to their caries.

Conclusion: The findings have important applications for promoting policies aimed at advancing children's oral health.

Details

Title
Factors related to children's caries: a structural equation modeling approach
Author
Qiu, Rong Min; Lo, Edward CM; Zhi, Qing Hui; Zhou, Yan; Tao, Ye; Lin, Huan Cai
Pages
1071
Publication year
2014
Publication date
2014
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
14712458
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-1071
ProQuest document ID
1617565364
Copyright
© 2014 Qiu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.