Impact of bedtime routines on dental health and child development
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploratory study of the underlying mechanisms involved in dental disease through the lenses of bedtime routines in preschool age children
IRAS ID
219018
Contact name
George Kitsaras
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study aims to better understand bedtime routines and their impact on the development of dental disease and overall development in children ages 3 to 5. There is limited research in this field but available evidence suggests that bedtime routines have an important role that is yet to be fully investigated. When controlling for other parameters such as socio-demographic and socio-economic factors and within a small geographic area there are still large disparities in the prevalence of dental caries in young children. Despite possible biological and genetic factors resulting in those differences there are definitely other factors that are highly associated with this phenomenon which are yet to be investigated fully. Bedtime routines have shown important associations with a variety of areas involved in child development and parenting including quality of sleep, dental disease, school performance and weight management. Additionally, bedtime routines could potentially represent a distinct time period within each family’s everyday routine where issues regarding parenting styles and behaviours manifest themselves through the approach that each parent/family is using in relation to bedtime routines. Finally, good bedtime routines with less tantrums have been associated with better maternal overall wellbeing, lower levels of anxiety, anger and fatigue. By focusing on bedtime routines vital information regarding family functioning and parent/child interaction can be unveiled that can potentially shed light into the important individual, social and environmental factors underlying the development of dental disease in children.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0521
Date of REC Opinion
21 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion