The Relationship Between Life Course Factors, Parental Demographics, Dental Coping Beliefs and Its Influence on Adolescents Dental Visit a Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Oral Disease is a multifactorial one that includes behavioral and culturalcomponents, and the severity of the disease depends on regularity of dental visits. The purposeof the study was to evaluate the relationship between parental demographics, life course factors,dental coping beliefs with therecent dental attendance among adolescents in Udupi Taluk.METHODS: Three hundred and fifty adolescents aged 16-19 years from four randomly selectedschools in Udupi Taluk participated in this cross sectional study. Information was obtainedregarding their parental demographics, their early life course, dental coping beliefs and recentdental attendance. Bivariate followed by multiple logistic regression analysis was performed toelicit variables which predict recent dental attendance.RESULTS: Out of the 324 adolescents who completed the questionnaire, 25.3% reported visitinga dentist within a period of one year. Childhood dental visit, childhood dental experience,housing, internal and external locus of control and self-efficacy were significantly associatedwith recent dental visit (p<0.05). Participants who lived in cement/brick houses were 4.3 timesmore likely to visit a dentist within one year compared to those living in hut/mud/combinedhouses (p<0.05). Adolescents with lower external (OR= 0.11, P<0.003) and low internal(OR=0.05, P<0.001) locus of control had lower odds of visiting a dentist within a year whencompared with those having higher locus of control.CONCLUSION: Childhood financial hardships, childhood dental visits and experiences anddental coping beliefs affect dental attendance pattern during adolescence. These factors shouldbe considered while tailoring interventions to promote the oral health and dental attendancebehaviors of adolescents.