Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
March 2008
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
25
Issue:
1

Parents’ views on factors influencing the dental health of Trinidadian pre-school children.

Objective To describe parents’ views on the dental health of pre-school children in Trinidad. Basic Research Design Self-administered 22 item questionnaire by 138 parents and guardians of pre-school children. Clinical setting University paediatric dentistry clinic. Participants Consecutive parents or guardians of pre-school children attending a university paediatric dentistry clinic. Main outcome measures Views on dental health and dental care of pre-school children, perceptions of own oral health and demographic information. Results Most participants (80%) were educated up to secondary school level and 59% were from homes where the head of the household was either in manual work or unemployed. One-half of the participants (50.7 %) felt that teeth of young children should be brushed three times a day, with (75.4%) choosing a small brush. Most participants (65%) considered the position of supervised brushing of childrens’ teeth from ‘in front’ to be the most effective method while 4.5% choose ‘from behind’. Twenty seven percent did not know if their child’s toothpaste contained fluoride and 82.6% did not know how much fluoride it should contain. Thirty three percent of the respondents had given their child a sweetened baby bottle or comforter at night. Fifty four percent felt a child’s first dental visit should be when all baby teeth were present. Forty two percent would want a decayed baby tooth filled, 31.9 % would want it extracted and 22.4 % were unsure. Conclusion The generally inaccurate factual knowledge and low awareness of preventive care among parents suggest the need for accurate information about factors influencing the dental health of pre-school children. These findings have significant implications for the delivery of effective health promotion strategies and the accuracy of health education messages in Trinidad and Tobago.

Key words: Dental health, health promotion, pre-school children, West Indies

Article Price
£15.00
Institution Article Price
£
Page Start
44
Page End
49
Authors
R.S. Naidu, L. Davis

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  1. Editorial - Oral health promotion by the oral health products industry: unrecognised and unappreciated?
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  1. Selecting a coherent set of indicators for monitoring and evaluating oral health in Europe: criteria, methods and results from the EGOHID I project.
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  1. Thanks to Referees
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  1. Exposure to water fluoridation and caries increment
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  1. A comparison of two methods for the evaluation of the daily urinary fluoride excretion in Romanian pre-school children
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  1. A randomised control trial of oral health education provided by a health visitor to parents of pre-school children
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  1. The influence of social indices on oral health and oral health behaviour in a group of Flemish socially deprived adolescents.
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  1. Development of a shortened Japanese version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) for young and middle-aged adults
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  1. Parents’ views on factors influencing the dental health of Trinidadian pre-school children.
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  1. Coronal caries experience in dentate Jordanian adults
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  1. The prevalence of enamel opacities in permanent teeth of 11-12 year-old school children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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  1. Factors associated with restoration and extraction receipt among New Zealand children
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