Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between parenting styles and dental caries.

Materials and Methods: Parents of healthy children in the age range of five to thirteen years old were approached to participate in the study. The Comprehensive General Parenting Questionnaire (CGPQ) was used to evaluate parenting on five constructs: nurturance, structure, behavioral control, overprotection and coercive control. Dental caries was assessed using the deft/DMFT index. The relationship between parenting and dental caries was evaluated as well as parenting and ethnicity, obesity and dental caries, caries related to diet and dental caries.

Results: A total of 119 parents completed the CGPQ. No significant relationship between parenting and dental caries in either the primary or permanent dentition was found. No significant correlation between obesity and dental caries was found. The caries risk related to diet was inversely proportional to proportion of dental caries in primary dentition (p=0.015) and proportion of decayed primary teeth (p=0.005). Asian parents scored significantly higher on coercive control than Caucasian (p=0.013) and Hispanic parents scored significantly higher on overprotection than African-American (p=0.039).

Conclusions: The only significant findings were differences in parenting between ethnicity. Asian parents scored higher on coercive control than Caucasian parents and Hispanic parents scored higher on overprotection compared to African-American parents.