Social capital and dental caries among 3-5-year-old Indian children. A cross-sectional study

Aim The aim of the study is to investigate the association between social capital and dental caries among 3-5-year-old preschool children in a rural region of southern India. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted among 260 children ranging from 3 to 5 years-old and their parents from 13 preschools of the Udupi region of south India between December 2018, and February 2019. A 16-item Social Capital Scale (SCS) was used to collect data from the children's parents regarding their social capital. The diet history was collected from the parents and the children were examined for dental caries using the dmft index in their schools. Results Dental caries had a negative association with social capital (B=-0.13; 95% CI:-0.22 to-0.04; p-value=0.01). Stepwise multiple regression analysis also showed that sugar exposures in solid and liquid form, household crowding and social capital were significantly associated with dental caries in the study population with variances of 13.0% (SE=2.85; p-value of <0.01). Conclusion Dental caries among preschool children had a negative association with parental social capital, and significantly contributed to variances in dental caries along with socioeconomic and dietary factors.