Introduction: Depression is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, with a heavy socioeconomic burden on the society. Dental caries, too, is a prevalent disease and is related with many factors such as the socioeconomic and demographic statuses of the family. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between maternal depression and the child’s dental caries.
Materials & Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was performed using two-step sampling in a dental clinic and a football school in Isfahan in summer, 2017. Ninety children under 12 years of age were examined to record the number of decayed, missing/extracted or filled deciduous (dmft) and permanent (DMFT) teeth. Their mothers were asked to answer Beck inventory for determining their depression score. The relationship between maternal depression and caries statuswas investigated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and the mean dmft and DMFT scores were compared among different levels of maternal depression using ANOVA, followed by post hoc Tukey tests (a=0.05).
Results: The mean depression score of mothers was 7.38 ± 2.41 and the means of dmft and DMFT were 2.89 ± 2.13 and 0.69 ± 1.03, respectively. An increase in the maternal depression score was correlated with a significant increase in dmft of children. The only significant item in comparison of dmft among maternal depression groups was a higher dmft in children who had mothers with 17?30 score compared to the 0-10 score group.
Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between maternal depression and dmft and DMFT of children, and the relationship was stronger for deciduous teeth. Furthermore, mothers with higher levels of depression, who needed psychological consultation, had children with higher dmft.