Elizabeth Miller|Jessica Y. Lee|Darren A. DeWalt|William F. Vann
Impact of Caregiver Literacy on Children's Oral Health Outcomes
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
objective study examine relationship primary caregivers literacy childrens oral health outcomeswe performed crosssectional study children aged 6 years presented initial dental appointment teaching clinics university north carolina chapel hill school dentistry caregiver literacy measured using rapid estimate adult literacy dentistry reald30 outcome measures included oral health knowledge oral health behaviors primary caregivers reports childs oral health status clinical oral health status child determined clinical examination completed trained calibrated examinersamong 106 caregiverchild dyads enrolled 59 children male 52 white 86 caregivers biological mothers bivariate results showed significant relationships literacy oral health knowledge p 16 behaviors p 24 however association literacy oral health status p 05 multivariate analysis controlled race income analysis revealed significant relationship caregiver literacy scores clinical oral health status determined using standardized clinical examination caregivers children mild moderate treatment needs likely higher reald30 scores severe treatment needs odds ratio 114 95 confidence interval 105125 p 003caregiver literacy significantly associated childrens dental disease status