Brief oral health promotion intervention among parents of young children to reduce early childhood dental decay

Abstract

BackgroundSevere untreated dental decay affects a child’s growth, body weight, quality of life as well as cognitive development, and the effects extend beyond the child to the family, the community and the health care system. Early health behavioural factors, including dietary practices and eating patterns, can play a major role in the initiation and development of oral diseases, particularly dental caries. The parent/caregiver, usually the mother, has a critical role in the adoption of protective health care behaviours and parental feeding practices strongly influence children’s eating behaviours. This study will test if an early oral health promotion intervention through the use of brief motivational interviewing (MI) and anticipatory guidance (AG) approaches can reduce the incidence of early childhood dental decay and obesity.MethodsThe study will be a randomised controlled study with parents and their new-born child/ren who are seen at 6–12 weeks of age by a child/community health nurse. Consenting parents will complete a questionnaire on oral health knowledge, behaviours, self-efficacy, oral health fatalism, parenting stress, prenatal and peri-natal health and socio-demographic factors at study commencement and at 12 and 36 months. Each child–parent pair will be allocated to an intervention or a standard care group, using a computer-generated random blocks. The standard group will be managed through the standard early oral health screening program; “lift the lip”. The intervention group will be provided with tailored oral health counselling by oral health consultants trained in MI and AG.Participating children will be examined at 24, and 36 months for the occurrence of dental decay and have their height and weight recorded. Dietary information obtained from a food frequency chart will be used to determine food and dietary patterns. Data analysis will use intention to treat and per protocol analysis and will use tests of independent proportions and means. Multivariate statistical tests will also be used to take account of socio-economic and demographic factors in addition to parental knowledge, behaviour, self-efficacy, and parent/child stress.DiscussionThe study will test the effects of an oral health promotion intervention to affect oral health and general health and have the potential to demonstrate the “common risk factor” approach to health promotion.Trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: http://ACTRN12611000997954

Disparities in dental health of rural Australians: hospitalisation rates and utilisation of public dental services in three communities in North Queensland

“…Studies have shown that parents/caregivers play a crucial role in influencing children's oral health 16,17 . Parental oral health status, knowledge and behaviours 18,19 , in addition to structural barriers such as cost, eligibility and ability to attend appointments 20 , can impact on oral health status and dental visiting patterns.…”

An evaluation of the knowledge of pediatric nurses about the oral health status of newborns and pediatric oral health care

“…[10,11] In order to enhance the chance of preventing oral healthrelated issues as well as raising awareness about normal and pathological dental conditions among children, primary health care nurses have been considered a cost-effective worker group in oral health screening and education procedures for regular dental visits. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] In general, basic education principles of nursing students and/or nurses do not contain specific oral health issues, which results in inadequate knowledge on the oral health care of newborns and children. [11,[13][14][15][16][17] Since pediatric nurses could have responsibilites for preventive dentistry and recognition of caries progression from the first eruption of primary teeth, as well as monitoring the development of oral and maxillo facial region in the pediatric population [4,8,[12][13][14][15][16][17] professional education strategies might be implemented into their basic education courses which could also be beneficial to manage the oral health profile of newborns and children.…”

Early Childhood Caries: A Literature Review

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