Eating Behaviours, Oral Hygiene, and Caries in a Population of Spanish Children with Divorced Parents: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Dental caries are a public health problem that is influenced by dietary habits. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the feeding and hygiene habits that divorced parents exercise over their children compared to non-divorced parents, and how this may influence the rate of caries in their children. The data of participants (n = 174) with an average age of 12.17 ± 2.04 years were examined to assess the mean decayed/missing/filled teeth (DMFT) index, and they were asked questions about their oral hygiene habits. At the same time, their parents answered the parental feeding style questionnaire. A moderation analysis was conducted with family control of oral hygiene habit levels as an independent variable, decayed teeth as a dependent variable, and feeding control as a moderating variable. Results showed that divorced parents were found to have more problems in controlling their children’s hygiene and dietary habits, have less control over their children’s feeding, and make more use of instrumental feeding, which led to children of divorced parents having more caries. Despite the limitations linked to the cross-sectional design of the study and considering both the convenience sample and the impossibility of controlling for all aetiological factors linked to the development of caries, it can be concluded that children of divorced parents have an increased risk of tooth decay. However, parental controlled feeding interferes with the effect of family controlled oral hygiene habits on the decayed tooth, decreasing the rate of caries.