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Objective: A conceptual model was designed and tested to predict immigrant children's oral health in Canada by examining parental acculturation and perceived social support (PSS) using structural equation modelling. Methods: A convenience sample of first‐generation immigrant parents and their children aged 2–12 years were recruited by multilingual community workers in Edmonton, Canada. Parents completed a validated questionnaire on demographics, child's oral health (OH) behaviours, parental acculturation and PSS. Dental examinations determined children's dental caries rate using DMFT/dmft index. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. Results: A total of 336 families participated in this study. The average parental acculturation level was 10.46 with a maximum of 15, and the average PSS was 63.27 with a maximum of 75. SEM showed that 77% of the variance of DMFT/dmft scores in children was explained by parental PSS, acculturation level, immigration‐related variables, socioeconomic variables and children's OH behaviours. The direct effect of parental PSS was associated with a significantly reduced rate of dental caries (β = −.076, p‐value =.008) and lower sugar consumption (β = −.17, p‐value =.04). While the mediation effect of parental acculturation on PSS was associated with positive OH behaviours of children (e.g., toothbrushing frequency and dental care utilization), the indirect effect was negatively associated with caries rate (β =.77, p‐value =.00). Conclusions: The direct effect of Parental Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was associated with more favourable oral health behaviours and a lower prevalence of dental caries, while the mediation effect of acculturation was linked to a higher prevalence of dental caries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This cross‐sectional study aimed to examine the associations between parental acculturation level and strategies and children's caries experience and oral health (OH) behaviors. Methods: Participants were immigrant parents of children aged 2–12 years. Data were collected by validated questionnaires gathering information on socio‐demographics, child's OH behaviors, and parents'; acculturation and dental examinations determining child's caries experience using DMFT/dmft index. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used. Results: Three hundred and thirty‐six parent/child dyads completed the study. Length of residency (B = 0.103; 95% CI: 0.064, 0.141) parents' education (B = 1.691; 95% CI: 1.228, 2.155), and household income (B = −0.959; 95% CI: −1.566, −0.352) significantly predicted acculturation level. Parents with high Canadian cultural knowledge reported higher frequency of children's toothbrushing (p‐value = 0.015). Parents of children who consumed sugar >1/day had higher mean scores of acculturation to Canadian culture (p‐value = 0.016), English language proficiency (p‐value = 0.024), and Canadian food adoption (p‐value = 0.046). Parents of children who visited the dentist within last 12 months had significantly higher assimilation and lower separation mean scores. Parents of children who visited dentist because of dental problems had higher marginalization mean score than those who went for check‐ups (p‐value = 0.046). Parental acculturation was not significantly correlated with their children's dmft/DMFT level. Conclusions: Children of highly acculturated parents reported higher toothbrushing frequency and were more likely to consume sugar than children of less acculturated parents. Assimilated parents reported more and marginalized parents reported less favorable OH behaviors than other categories. Parental acculturation level or strategy was not associated with children's caries experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]