Oral health of children and adolescents with mucopolysaccharidosis and mother's Sense of Coherence

AIMS: The purpose of this study is assess the association between mother's Sense of Coherence (SOC) and the oral health status of children with and without mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out with 29 children/adolescents with MPS and 29 children/adolescents without MPS, and their mothers in Brazil. Mothers completed the Antonovsky's SOC instrument (SOC-13) and their children's oral cavity had been examined for developmental defects of enamel (DDE), occlusal problems, dental caries (DMFT/dmft) and oral hygiene. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. RESULTS: Mothers of children with MPS had lower SOC scores (mean: 33.3 [±4.0]) compared with mothers of children without MPS (mean: 36.9 [±4.5]) (p < 0.001). Mother's SOC of children with MPS were lower for those children with one or more decayed teeth (31.5 [±3.2]) than for those children/adolescents without caries (35.7 [±3.8]) (p = 0.004) and lower for those children/adolescents with one or more missing teeth (30.2 [±0.9]) than for those individuals identified without missing teeth (33.8 [±4.1]) (p = 0.046). CONCLUSION: Mothers' SOC of children/adolescents with MPS was associated with dental caries experience in their children. Improving mothers' SOC should contribute to a better quality of life for their children.