Are deleterious oral habits associated with maternal resilience among preschoolers?

Maternal resilience and oral habits in preschoolers

Abstract

Introduction: Oral habits are repetitive behaviors and become deleterious when they have an unnecessary and non-functional action. According to their duration, frequency and intensity, they can cause alterations in muscle, bone and obvious tissues. Therefore, they are considered environmental etiological factors for the development of malocclusions in children. Emotional factors, the need for prolonged sucking and family influence may be associated with the insertion and continuity of these habits. The mother's psychological influence, which is essential for the formation of a child and which consciously or unconsciously can influence the installation, development and removal of her child's habits. Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between maternal resilience and the presence of deleterious habits in preschool children. Methodology: This is a population-based cross-sectional study, carried out with four hundred and twenty-eight children aged between 3 and 5 years enrolled in public and private day care centers and preschools in the city of Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Maternal resilience was assessed using the Resilience Scale, which was translated and adapted into Brazilian Portuguese and validated to measure resilience in Brazilian individuals. Pre-structured questionnaires were sent to the children's parents that addressed the presence of family habits and sociodemographic variables, such as questions related to marital status, age, education and factors related to the family group. The deleterious oral habits evaluated were onychophagia, finger sucking, pacifier sucking and bottle feeding. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), version 22.0. Frequency, chi-square, Poisson regression and logistic regression analyzes were performed. Results: A total of 428 (97%) children participated until the end of the study. Of the total number of participants, 51.6% (n= 221) were female. Four-year-old children represented 36.4% (n=156) of the sample and 32% (n=137) were three years old. The most frequent habit was sucking a pacifier (31.3%), followed by onychophagia (28.7%). The habit of drinking a bottle was present in 19.2% (n=82) of the children and finger sucking in 11.2% (n=48). Maternal resilience was distributed in the following proportions: 28.8% (n=123) high resilience; 39.5% (n=169) moderate and 31.7% (n=136) low resilience. Tables 1 to 4 show the distribution of independent variables for onychophagia habits, digital sucking, pacifier and bottle use, respectively. For the habit of onychophagia, the female gender (PR: 1.66; CI 95%: 1.22-2.25; p=0.001), age 5 years (PR: 1.83; CI 95%: 1, 24-2.71; p=0.002) and low maternal resilience (PR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.15-2.40; p=0.006) were associated in the final regression model. The only variable associated with the habit of digital sucking was the child having never been to the dentist (PR: 1.92; 95% CI: 1.02-3.59; p=0.04). The habit of sucking a pacifier was associated with low resilience (PR: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.14-2.47; p=0.009) and mother working outside the home (PR: 1.54; 95% CI : 1.07-2.23;p=0.02). Bottle-feeding was associated with age (4 years: (PR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.37-0.90; p=0.017; 5 years: PR: 0.44; 95% CI: 0 .26-0.74; p=0.002) Conclusion: Low maternal resilience was associated with a higher prevalence of onychophagia and pacifier-sucking habits in preschoolers. However, there was no association with finger-sucking and bottle-feeding.