Maternal Control of the Child's Feeding, Child's Eating Behavior and Early Childhood Caries in Preschoolers

Dental caries in children is considered one of the most prevalent oral diseases of this age group, leading to significant manifestations presenting as pain, interference with feeding, higher risk of developing dental caries in both, primary and permanent dentition, as well as worse repercussions on the permanent successors. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) global oral health status report of 2022, 514 million children -worldwide- have been affected by dental caries in their primary teeth. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) refers to this type of dental caries in primary teeth as "early childhood caries" and defines it as the existence of one or more decayed, missed, or filled tooth surface due to dental caries in children less than six years of age.

It has been studied in depth that dental caries is a multi-factorial disease of a complex nature with behavioral, as well as social factors playing a vital role in its etiology. Dietary practices, along with the presence of bacteria in the oral cavity have been shown to be inextricably linked to the presence of dental caries. The latest evidence has demonstrated that certain types of eating behavioral traits in children could, in a way, influence the development of dental caries.

Moreover, family structure could be an additional, recently confirmed factor to contemplate in regards to the etiology of dental caries. For example, it has been shown that parents, as the primary caregiver of the child, could influence the eating habits of their preschool children. This could occur through parents choosing the food they consider "appropriate" for their child, modelling, creating specific patterns of feeding for the child and adopting particular food practices to reinforce eating behaviors in their children.

Several questionnaires that assess the child's eating behavioral traits as well as parental control of the child's feeding have been found in the literature, among which, the most frequently used are the "Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ)" and the "Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ)". Both questionnaires have been shown to have good psychometric properties and both have been validated and translated to Arabic language in recent studies.

Research suggests that evidence on the relationship between children's eating behavior and dental caries is scanty. Additionally, the association between parental control in child feeding and dental caries has been investigated in a limited number of studies. To our knowledge, to date, this type of research has not been previously conducted in Egypt. On that account, this study has been developed with the aim of investigating the relationship between parental control in child feeding, child's eating behavior and dental caries in a number of Egyptian preschool children.

Inclusion criteria

• Egyptian mothers and preschool children pairs aging from 3-5 years old, and currently residing in Egypt.
• Mothers who live with the child in the same household

Exclusion criteria

• Participants who refuse to consent to participate in the study.
• Mothers with any medical health condition (physical or mental) that interferes with responding to the questionnaires.
• Children with special health care needs (mental or physical).
• Medically compromised children (Diabetic, renal problems, liver problems, respiratory problems…etc.) as their condition or the medications they consume might interfere with their oral health status.
• Children whose siblings have previously participated in the study.