Mom May Be to Blame for Poor Oral Health
Mom May Be to Blame for Poor Oral Health Recently published research from a 27 year long project based in New Zealand suggests that women with poor oral health are more likely to bear children with oral health issues. The
Mom May Be to Blame for Poor Oral Health
Recently published research from a 27-year-long project based in New Zealand suggests that women with poor oral health are more likely to bear children with oral health issues. The study, which began in 1978, evaluated the oral health of 1,000 5-year-old children and their mothers, reassessing the now-adult children’s oral health nearly three decades later. Follow-up evaluation found that 45% of participants had severe tooth decay and 40% had experienced tooth loss, suggesting children of mothers with poor oral health enter adulthood with compromised oral health.
The research, led by Dara Shearer, BDS, MComDent, a research fellow with the Department of Oral Sciences, School of Dentistry at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, supports other studies that indicate oral health is influenced not only by environmental factors, but also genetics passed from one generation to the next.
Commenting on the team’s research, published in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of Dental Research, Nigel Carter, BDS, LDS (RCS), chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, notes, “We must target parents to educate their children in the hope they can better their own oral health and pass the message on to future generations.”
Because caries is a preventable disease, Carter asserts that more can be done to improve children’s oral health. “The responsibility to improve oral health lies with each and every one of us,” he says.
