Oral health knowledge, behaviors and parental practices among rural-urban migrant children in Guangzhou: a follow-up study

Comparison of Childhood Caries Levels between Children of Pediatric Dentists and Children of General Dentists: A Cross-Sectional Study

Caries development in children is a prevalent childhood disease. Factors affecting chronic teeth lesions include nutrition, parental involvement, and executing proper dental health attitude. Professional dentists are perceived as role models for the oral health and hygiene of their families. The purposes of the research were 1. To compare caries rates in the children of pediatric dentists and children of general dentists. 2. To compare children’s nutrition habits between pediatric dentists and general dentists. 3. To compare children’s oral health and hygiene between pediatric dentists and general dentists. 4. To compare children’s usage of fluoride-containing products between pediatric dentists and general dentists. A cross-sectional study was conducted by distributing self-reporting questionnaires to pediatric dentists and general dentists via the social media “snowball” platform. The following themes were surveyed: nutrition habits and oral hygiene of the children. The sample consisted of 176 participants. Children of pediatric dentists were found to have fewer cases of caries than children of general dentists (p = 0.018). Nutrition habits did not differ between the two groups. In addition, pediatric dentists reported that their children use more fluoridated toothpaste in comparison with general dentists. Professional training of pediatric dentists contributed to shaping the oral hygiene attitude of their children.

What Do Mothers (or Caregivers) Know about Their Children’s Oral Hygiene? An Update of the Current Evidence

Tooth decay remains one of the most common diseases in children, although it is a preventable injury and despite significant advances that has been made in terms of attention and care for oral hygiene. Several studies have shown the association between prevalence of tooth decay in children and parents’ incorrect oral care habits, with a low educational level and a low socioeconomic background. The question that arises concerns the actual oral hygiene knowledge of mothers, fathers, family members or caregivers of young patients; therefore, the aim of this review is to investigate the genesis of gaps in the topic. A literature search was conducted through the Scopus and PubMed search engine and ended in May 2022; only studies from the past 20 years were included. Current evidence suggests that parents and caregivers still have little knowledge about their children’s oral health: there is not enough awareness about the importance of preventing oral diseases, due to poor attention to good oral hygiene but also lack of information from health professionals and institutions. In the future, all the professionals involved in the pregnant woman’s care should increase parents’ knowledge, solve their doubts, collect and compare data in order to design effective intervention programs.

Oral health and knowledge of sighted children and children with visual impairment and their parents’ role in it: A comparative study

Aim:

The present study aims to evaluate oral health knowledge and habits of children with visual impairment by comparison with their sighted counterparts and also evaluates parental knowledge and involvement in children’s oral hygiene routines.

Methods:

This observational and transversal study included the participation of 68 children (34 were visually impaired and 34 were sighted), from seven schools from Lisbon. The participants with visual impairment were age and gender-matched with their sighted counterparts to minimize variations in the analysis. In all, 52.9% of children were male, with average age of 11.15 (±3.413) years [6; 18]. The children and parents completed one survey each. Children were submitted to an oral examination to evaluate oral health.

Results:

Participants with visual impairment showed a non-significant increase in the decayed, missing, and filled teeth index (dmft), gingival, and oral hygiene indexes. Both groups’ gingival state was mostly classified as excellent, and oral hygiene was mainly classified as excellent/good. More children with visual impairment (85.7%) needed help with teeth brushing ( p = .046) and were more likely to miss dentist check-ups more often ( p = .025). Also, sighted children and their parents demonstrated more knowledge about oral health.

Conclusion:

Children with visual impairment and their parents showed less favorable results, justifying the need to promote oral health education to this demographic.

The disparity in caries and sealants between migrant and native children in Shanghai: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the disparity in dental caries between native and migrant children in Shanghai, China.

METHODS

Between 2013 and 2015, a random cluster sample of native and migrant children aged 5, 9, 12 and 15 years was collected from each district in Shanghai. Oral examination was performed following the World Health Organization (WHO) method, and findings were reported as decayed-missing-filled teeth of primary dentition (dmft) and permanent dentition (DMFT).

RESULTS

A total of 10 150 children were examined, and 33.6% of them were migrants. Migrant children had a higher prevalence of deciduous caries than native children (the 5-year-old age group, 67.8% vs 63.0%, P = 0.024; the 9-year-old age group, 75.9% vs 66.1%, P < 0.001), and higher dmft values were found in migrant children. But with respect to permanent teeth, no statistical differences were found between the two groups in caries prevalence or DMFT. After controlling for potential confounders by logistic regression, migrant children showed a higher risk of deciduous caries (odds ratio 1.42, 95% confidence interval 1.25-1.61, P < 0.001) but not of permanent caries. Migrant children exhibited relatively lower deciduous Restorative Care Index (RCI). However, 9- and 15-year-old migrant children had a higher permanent RCI than their native counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

Dental caries prevalence in migrant children was higher in the deciduous teeth but not in the permanent teeth compared to that in their native counterparts. School-based dental public health services may contribute to reducing the disparity in dental health status between migrant and native children.

The Influence of Oral Health Knowledge on Parental Practices among the Saudi Parents of Children Aged 2-6 Years in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The parent's oral health knowledge has a great influence on their children, so the aim of the study was to estimate the parental knowledge about oral health care and its influence in maintaining the diet and hygiene practices on their children and also to access how the demographic variables will influence them in taking their child to dental visits.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The self-administered pretested questionnaire was distributed among Saudi parents whose children are in the age group of 2-6 years vising primary health care centers (PHCCs) in Riyadh city. The PHCCs were divided into five zones (Central, East, West, South, and North). 240-250 samples were randomly selected from each zone to reach the prescribed sample size of 1200. The survey will be composed of self-administered pretested questionnaires seeking for age, gender, educational level, and their financial status followed by 26 questions related to parent knowledge about oral health (14), dietary (5), and hygiene (7) practices what they implement on their child. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS software SPSS 25.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).

RESULTS

Demographic information showed that the average age of the parents who participated in the study is 32.2 years. The mothers were 942 (75.7%) and fathers were 303 (24.3%) among the participants. The mean knowledge score among the mothers (34.85) is slightly greater than fathers (34.76). Similar results with dietary and hygiene practices were not statistically significant (>0.05). The parents having more than one child have better knowledge, of which the parents with more than three children have better scores, which is statistically significant. 69.3% of the parents prefer taking to a dentist only when they have a problem. Moreover, these findings found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Parents should get access to oral health knowledge to put in practice on their children so as to influence them in gaining better oral health.