Incidence and prevention of early childhood caries in one- and two-parent families

Background Since the mid-1990s, there has been an increase in early childhood caries (ECC) in Australia and an increase in children living in one-parent families Objective To examine whether single parenthood (mother only) affects the effectiveness of an oral health promotion programme to prevent ECC in their child Methods First-time mothers were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of anticipatory guidance to prevent ECC The intervention was applied during pregnancy and when the child was 6 and 12 months old Mothers in the control group received no intervention The presence of ECC was assessed at 20 months of age and compared between children from one- and two-parent families Results Of 649 women enrolled, 441 brought their child for dental assessment Eighty-seven (19 7%) had a one parent family Children from one-parent families had a 23 times higher incidence of ECC than children from two-parent families The intervention reduced the frequency of ECC from 8 1% to 1 1% in two-parent families (relative risk 0 14) and from 16 3% to 4 5% (relative risk 0 28) in one-parent families One case of ECC was prevented for every nine single mothers receiving anticipatory guidance compared with one case per 15 partnered mothers Despite a greater reduction in the absolute risk of ECC in children from one-parent families, the intervention reduced their ECC experience only 3 5-fold compared with sevenfold in children from two-parent families Conclusion The intervention produced a greater reduction in the frequency of ECC in children from one-parent families than in those from two-parent families This did not reduce their disadvantage, though, as they still had a four times higher risk than children from two-parent families Mothers and children in one-parent families need substantially more attention and support than those in two-parent families to eliminate their disadvantage in suffering ECC