Oral Health of Pre-School Children of Incarcerated Mothers at UAE Prison Nurseries and Oral Health and Knowledge of their Caregivers

Introduction: Parents and caregivers are the primary decision-makers of healthcare for children; hence, they play an imperative role in achieving good oral health for their children. In cases where the mother is incarcerated in prison, a unique system allows incarcerated-mothers to keep their children with them while their stay.

This study evaluates the oral health of pre-school children of incarcerated-mothers at UAE jail nurseries and compares it with children of non-incarcerated-mothers; it also assesses the oral-health knowledge and attitudes of the prison nurseries’ caregivers.

Method: All the UAE jail nurseries were targeted to include all children of incarcerated mothers residing in jail nurseries; the control group was randomly selected from the primary health centers across the UAE. A total of 128 and 254 preschool children were included in the study and control group respectively and were examined clinically for dental caries using the dmft score and oral health and hygiene status indices. The knowledge and attitudes of all healthcare providers (Nr = 45) at jail nurseries were assessed using a standardized structured questionnaire interview method.

Results: The prevalence of caries was not significantly different between the two groups with 89.9% [mean dmft 4.97 (± 3.61)] in the study group and 92.1% [mean dmft 4.48 (± 3.60)] in the controls. However, Restorative Index and Care Index were significantly lower in the study group (p< 0.001). Oral hygiene in the control group was better with 18.2% having good oral hygiene compared to 6.2% in the study group. Oral health knowledge and attitude of the caregivers were not satisfactory.

Conclusions: Despite the non-significant difference in the caries prevalence in the control and study groups, oral hygiene and care level of vulnerable children of incarcerated mothers was significantly poorer. Jail caregivers had poor knowledge and attitude of oral-health matters.