Parents' Knowledge and Attitude towards Children's First Dental Visit

Parents' Knowledge and Attitude towards Children's First Dental Visit

S S. Sakoolnamarka and K. Youcharoen,   

Srinakarinwirot University, Thailand

 

Objective: The purpose of this study was to survey the parents' knowledge and attitude towards children's first dental visit Methods: The self-completion questionnaires were developed and distributed to all Thai parents of preschool children in Pierra Maternity and Child Welfare, Bangkok (267 subjects). Relationships between demographic information and parents' knowledge and attitude towards children's first dental visit were statistically analyzed using Chi-square test. Results: 246 questionnaires were returned. It was found that parents' gender, age, education and income had no significant relation to the timing of the first dental visit (Chi-square test, p > 0.05. Of this, 49.2% of the parents were aware of the appropriate timing of children's first dental visit. However, only 66.11 % of them gave the correct timing (6-12 months). Their sources of information were from pediatrician (31.3%), health personnel (28.8%), child health magazine (25.6%) and dentist (15.0%). Parents' expectations on their children's first visit were dental examination (67.9%), oral hygiene instruction (65.4%) and information on the appropriate use of fluoride (57.7%). In addition, 53.7% of all parents had never brought their children to dentist, for those who had been to dentist, 45.69 % of them did so at the age of 12-24 months, followed by 24-36 months (27.59%) and 0-12 months (24.14%), respectively. Furthermore, the average score of parents' attitude towards the children‘s first dental