May family routines impact oral health in American children?

Vanessa Pardi; Giovanna Torqueto Castilho; Rachel Stewart; Huabin Luo; Wanda G Wright; Mark Eric Moss

doi:10.3389/froh.2024.1477036

May family routines impact oral health in American children?

Front Oral Health. 2024 Dec 4:5:1477036. doi: 10.3389/froh.2024.1477036. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Vanessa Pardi¹, Giovanna Torqueto Castilho², Rachel Stewart¹, Huabin Luo³, Wanda G Wright¹, Mark Eric Moss¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Dental Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, United States.
² Department of Morphology and Children's Clinic, School of Dentistry, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil.
³ Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, United States.

Abstract

Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the association between family routines and dental caries and self-rated oral health status.

Methods: Data from the 2020-2021 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) completed at United States were used. Our outcome variables were self-reported dental caries (yes/no) and poor oral health condition (yes/no). Our independent variables were related to family routines: (1) Going to bed at the same time (yes/no); (2) Days having dinner together (0-7days); (3) Hours spent in front of the TV, computer, cell phone or other electronic devices (screen time); and (4) adequate sleep (yes/no). We used socioeconomic factors, health insurance coverage, family structure and neighborhood characteristics as covariates. Univariate and multiple logistic regression were used to analyze the data.

Results: For the dental caries outcome, children with regular bedtimes (AOR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.58-0.79), more frequent family dinners (AOR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.85-0.96), and supportive neighborhoods (AOR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.78-0.99) were less likely to report dental caries. Increased screen time (AOR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.04-1.15) was associated with higher self-reported dental caries. For oral health status, children with regular bedtimes, (AOR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.48-0.75), supportive neighborhoods (AOR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.68-0.97), and with more neighborhood amenities (AOR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.88-1.00) reported better health. More screen time (AOR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.02-1.21) and poor neighborhood conditions (AOR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.02-1.26) correlated with poor oral health.

Conclusions: Findings from this study indicate that family routines play a significant role in children's oral health. Future research should focus on interdisciplinary family- and community-level interventions that are tailored to support healthy habits and address the needs of families.

Keywords: bedtime; dental caries; family; mealtime; neighborhood characteristics; oral health; screen time; sleep.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.