Abstract
ABSTRACTCongenital heart disease (CHD) is a devastating complex of diseases resulting from defects of development. It affects more than 1 of every 100 live births. Early preventive dental care should be adjusted to the special needs of these children in their first years of life. Knowledge of parental attitudes and experiences of dental care are therefore important.Aim : This study was done to assess the knowledge and attitudes among parents of children with congenital heart disease towards oral health and dental care.Materials and methods : Parents (n = 105) of children with congenital heart disease of an age ranging from 0 to 16 years were included in the study. A questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge and oral health attitudes.Results : The parents’ knowledge was fair but the oral health attitudes were not very satisfactory. The parents in this study also recognized the importance of oral health for the well-being of rest of the body.Conclusion : The results of this study indicate that parents’ and children’s attitudes toward oral health and dental care need to be improved.
Highlights
Congenital heart disease (CHD), abnormalities in the structural development of the heart, occurs in approximately 8:1000 live births
It was found that 87.4% of the children used brush and paste to maintain oral hygiene whereas 5.7% of them used mouth wash and a meager 2.3% used tooth picks
About 1.2% of the single time brushers reported of brushing only before bed time (Table 1). Regarding their awareness on gingival health 41.37% of them said they had no knowledge about it and 39.08% said that redness of gingiva could be prevented by brushing and flossing
Summary
Congenital heart disease (CHD), abnormalities in the structural development of the heart, occurs in approximately 8:1000 live births. The increased survival rate of children with congenital heart disease has increased and the overall decrease in rheumatic valvular heart disease has been observed in the developed countries. CHD constitutes the predominant underlying condition for infective endocarditis (IE) in children over the age of two years in these countries.[2] The causative microorganisms for infective endocarditis in more than 60% of the patients with positive hemoculture are streptococci, with viridians streptococci representing 50% of this group, especially Streptococcus sanguis, S. mitior and S. mutans. Poor oral hygiene may give rise to frequent bacteremia under normal physiological conditions, leading to a permanent risk of developing the disease
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