Association Between Maternal Resilience And Deleterious Oral Habits In Preschool Children

Aim: To evaluate the association between maternal resilience and the presence of deleterious oral habits in preschool children. Methods: This is a cross-sectional population-based study conducted with 428 preschool children aged from 3 to 5 years. Resilience was assessed through a validated self-administered questionnaire. Pre-structured questionnaires were sent to the children's parents addressing the presence of habits and sociodemographic variables in the family. The deleterious oral habits were onychophagia, digit sucking, the use of pacifier and of bottle feeding. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), version 22.0. Frequency analyses, chi-square analysis, Poisson regression, and logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: The most frequent habit was the use of pacifiers (31.3%). For the habit of onychophagia, female gender (PR: 1.66; 95%CI: 1.22-2.25; p=0.001), 5-year-old age (PR: 1.83; 95%CI: 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 digit 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 using a pacifier was associated with low resilience (PR: 1.68; 95%CI: 1.14-2.47; p=0.009) and with the mother working outside (PR: 1.54; 95%CI: 95%:1.07-2.23; p=0.02). The habit of bottle feeding was associated with age (4 years old: PR: 0.58; 95%CI:0.37-0.90; p=0.017; 5 years old: 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 use habits in preschool children.