Evaluation of the effect of early childhood caries in children and its severity on construct of guilt sensation and its intensity in parents

Abstract

Introduction Parents may have guilt feeling of their children's oral and dental problems, which can affect their quality of life. The extent of this guilt and its severity in the parents of children and its relationship with early childhood caries and their dmft rate have been evaluated. Materials and methods In this descriptive-analytical research, 237 children aged 2 to 5 years who had referred to the pediatric ward of Tabriz Dentistry Department were selected. The samples were selected randomly and the research was done taking into account the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Children were examined by a pediatric dentist before any dental treatment. If early caries were diagnosed using clinical and radiographic methods, the child's dmft was recorded and the caries condition was determined using WHO measure for classification of caries based on dmft index. Parents then completed a Guilt Feeling Questionnaire (Carralho et al, 2012). The data were statistically analyzed by SPSS 20 statistical software. Results In all age groups, there was a statistically significant relationship between children's dental caries and parents' guilt feeling (P <0.05). There was also a significant relationship between the severity of dental caries in children and the severity of parental guilt feeling (P <0.05). At low levels of education of parents, there was no significant relationship between the severity of the child's caries and guilt feeling. But at moderate and higher levels a significant relationship was observed (P <0.05). As the severity of the caries increased, the guilt feeling is enhanced. At different levels of economic status, there was a significant relationship between child caries and guilt feelings (P <0.05). Conclusion Early childhood caries and dmft levels make parents to have guilt feelings.