ROLE OF PARENTAL AWARENESS OF CHILDREN'S DENTAL CARIES AND HOW TO FOLLOW UP ON TREATMENT

Objective: To explore the role of parent awareness in dental caries and follow-up treatment required for healing with oral issues. 

Methods: The research was conducted through cross- a sectional research design. This type of research design helps measure the outcome during the exposure of all the participants. In other words, it is a type of observational study, thus, the prevalence of the research area can be easily estimated. The study population included parents from 25 to 40 years of age along with paediatricians in this domain. The population might of different ethnicity, socio-economic and lifestyle, also, the parents age might vary as many regions early marriage below 20 years might also occur.

Results: Study included 436 participants in which all of them were parents. Vast majority of them rated the importance of dental care very important (n= 399, 91.5%) and 33 participants rated as important (7.6%). On the other hand, less than 1% rated dental care as not important (n= 4). Vast majority of participants were aware of oral hygiene practices (n= 418, 95.9%). Some of study participants faced some dental issues within their families (n= 364, 83.5%). Participants used tooth brushing as a method for cleaning teeth (n= 158, 36.2%). Regarding the frequency of checking-up to the dentist, half of participants did every 12-24 months (n= 230, 52.8%) and the other half did in between 6-12 months (n= 206, 47.2%). About the reason why participants would not visit the dentist, high cost was the most prevalent among 242 participants (55.5%).

Conclusion: Study results showed that most of study participants reported the importance of dental care and were aware of oral hygiene practices. Participants of the current study did yearly check-ups with the dentist. The most frequent reason for not visiting the dentist was high coast. Participants received dental education on yearly basis.