Objective: To investigate the association between caregiver’s oral health status and children’s caries by way of a systematic review. Research Design: The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews was used to conduct this review and the PRISMA-P 2015 statement as a reporting guideline. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were established based on prescribed guidelines. PubMed, Cinahl, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched up to September 2023. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used for quality assessment. Frequency distribution of results was calculated for preschool children and children. Results: All 10 studies eligible for inclusion in the final review were assessed as a low risk of bias. In all studies, the mother was reported as the primary caregiver. A significant association between oral health of caregivers and their children was found for dental caries in seven of the 10 included studies; four for preschoolers and two for children in the deciduous dentition, and one for children in the permanent dentition. Conclusions: This review emphasises the need for early intervention programs in addressing dental caries in children at the family-level, with particular focus on maternal oral health. These programmes should emphasise the critical role of caregivers and be tailored to identify and support high-risk households.
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