Association Between Somali Mothers' Oral Health Literacy and Their Children's Caries Experience in Minnesota

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives: Dental caries is a major oral health problem among U.S. immigrant children, and Minnesota is home to one of the largest Somali-American communities, but little is known about this population’s oral health and oral health literacy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between Somali mothers’ oral health literacy and their children’s caries experience in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas in Minnesota. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed. Data were extracted from a larger cross-sectional study consisting of 99 Somali mothers and 292 children from twelve Somali-owned daycare centers in 3 Minnesota cities. Participating mothers completed an oral health literacy survey (HeLD-14), and mothers and their children received oral screenings where caries experience was recorded using the dfs/DMFS caries indices. Results: Mean age in years was 34.3 for mothers and 6.4 for children. Mothers had moderate oral health literacy with a mean HeLD-14 score of 8.4. The children’s mean dfs score was 3.3, and their mean DMFS score was 0.8. The children’s caries was not associated with the mothers’ total oral health literacy score, although, statistically significant associations were found between 3 of 7 HeLD-14 subcategories: access to care, receptivity, and economic barriers. Conclusions: Somali children’s caries experience was similar to U.S.-born comparatives, but lower than African-American children of similar age. Given, the children’s below average caries experience and the mothers’ moderate level of oral health literacy, may be an indicator that this population does not suffer from oral health disparities related to the oral health literacy and caries experience of mother-child pairs. Key Words: Oral health literacy; Somali; Immigrant; Oral health; Oral health status; Caries experience; Children’s oral health.