Parental influence on children’s oral health: nutritional, oral health behaviors and social aspects. Systematic review

Relevance of the problem and aim of the work: The children's oral health status is relevant topic because of frequent dental caries and other oral disorders manifestation. Epidemiological studies have shown that the prevalence of childhood dental caries in Lithuania was 50,6% in the investigated group. The child oral health status can be affected by many environmental factors, including factors that depend on the parent. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of maternal nutritional habits, parent's oral health habits and social factors on children's oral health using scientific publications. Material and methods: PubMed/Medline, ScienceDirect were searched from September 2017 to March 2018 to include articles according to the PRISMA Statement. Results: A total 18 in vivo studies were included. A statistically significant relationship was found between the prevalence of vitamin D in pregnant women, cheese consumption and the incidence of dental caries in children and hypoplasia of frontal teeth. Also, statistically significant prevalence of child dental caries was determined by the level of education of parents (10 scientific articles), socioeconomic status (8 scientific articles), composition of the family (3 scientific articles) and parental oral health care (8 scientific articles). Conclusions: When assessing maternal prenatal nutrition, oral health in children is influenced by vitamin D and the consumption of some food during pregnancy. The socioeconomic status of parents, the level of education, the frequency of teeth cleaning, the number of snacks between the main meals, visits to the dentist and the oral hygiene status relate to the development of childhood dental caries. The family composition is partly related to childhood dental caries