BACKGROUND: Individuals with a stronger sense of coherence (SOC) often show healthier behaviors. As parents, especially mothers, are behavioral role models for their children, this study aimed to explore the role of the mothers' SOC in prediction of the risk of dental caries in a sample of children aged 11-12 years old.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with 173 mother-child pairs enrolled by multi-stage sampling from four public schools in Torbat-e-Heydarieh, Iran. The data were obtained, using a demographic-health information sheet and the SOC-13 scale. Dental examinations of children were performed using the decay, missing and filled teeth index for primary (dmft) and permanent teeth (DMFT). Poisson regression analyses estimated the role of the mothers' SOC in predicting the relative risk (RR) of children's dental caries.

RESULTS: Mean dmft and DMFT were 3.4 ± 3.1 and 2.7 ± 2.9 respectively (medium severity). After controlling for demographic and health variables in regression models, greater maternal SOC indicated a protective effect against dental caries in primary (RR: 0.96; 95% CI:0.96-0-97) and permanent teeth (RR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.95-0.97) of their children.

CONCLUSIONS: With greater maternal SOC, the risk of children's dental caries decreased. Whilst this relationship was not as strong as in previous studies in other countries, it can be a platform for further research and perhaps planning to identify children who are at a greater risk of dental caries before starting dental examinations in schools.