Objectives:
To assess parents′ perceptions about the factors influencing the oral health of preschool children.
Materials and Methods:
A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out among the parents of the preschool children in Vadodara City, India. A list of preschools was obtained from the Social Science Department of the MS University, Vadodara, India. The study included 828 parents, out of whom 597 responded, with the response rate of 72.10%. Twenty-seven questionnaires were incompletely filled and were excluded from the analysis. The remaining 570 forms were analyzed for the results.
Results:
The study included 828 parents, with a response rate of 72.10%. A majority of the parents were aware of the importance of primary teeth (85.33%), need for treating decayed primary teeth (100%), harmful effects of bottle feeding at night (99.64%), appropriate oral hygiene aid (84,56%), appropriate size of a toothbrush for a child (99.12%), and supervision and guidance of a parent, while cleaning the child′s teeth (96.49%) . The parents′ understanding, however, was found to be poor with respect to certain factors. Very few of the parents had adequate knowledge about the appropriate time to start cleaning, correct position of the parent during supervised brushing, proper quantity of toothpaste to be used, and proper time for the first dental visit of the child; 29.12% felt that the child′s teeth should be cleaned when the first tooth erupts. A majority of parents identified the importance of fluoridated toothpaste (62.10%) and preferred to visit the dentist only when there was pain (58.07%).
Conclusions:
Parents′ knowledge with respect to the first dental visit of a child, correct time to start cleaning the child′s teeth, quantity of toothpaste to be used, position of parent during supervised brushing, the best time to give sugary drinks and snacks to the child, cariogenic effects of foods like cakes and pastries, and so on, needs to be improved.
