ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Are single mothers in Britain failing to monitor their oral health?

C McGrath¹, C Y Y J Yeung² and R Bedi³

¹ WHO Collaborating Centre for Disability, Culture and Oral Health, National Centre for Transcultural Oral Health, Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health Care Sciences, University of London and Periodontology and Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, University of Hong Kong
² Periodontology and Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, University of Hong Kong
³ WHO Collaborating Centre for Disability, Culture and Oral Health, National Centre for Transcultural Oral Health, Eastman Dental Institute for Oral Health Care Sciences, University of London, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Colman McGrath, Periodontology and Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, University of Hong Kong;
McgrathC{at}hkucc.hku.hk

Objectives: This study was designed to identify association between self reported dental attendance patterns and family structure in the UK.

Design: A national study involving 666 women with dependent children.

Setting: Home interviews were undertaken exploring time and reason for last dental visit. In addition, numerous sociodemographic and service related characteristics were collected.

Results: Bivariate analysis identified that family structure was associated with respondents' self reported dental attendance patterns: marital status (p<0.01), number of children (p<0.05), and age of children (p<0.05). When the combined effects of age, family structure, income, educational attainment, working status, and service factors (difficulty obtaining a NHS dentist and time taken to get an appointment) on dental attendance were explored, family structure emerged as a very important predicator of service use. Notably, young (age 16–34) single mothers and those with more than two children were less likely to have attended the dentist within the past year for reasons other than a dental emergency compared with older (age 35 or more), mothers from a two parent family and those with one or two children.

Conclusion: Family structure is associated with self reported dental attendance patterns. Young single mothers with more than two children may be failing to monitor their oral health appropriately.

Keywords: single mothers; oral health

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio

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