Abstract
BackgroundDespite the growing number of rural–urban migrant children in China, follow-up observation on the oral health of migrant children is still scarce. This study described the changes of oral health knowledge, behaviors and parental practices in migrant children over a period of one year. Possible factors affecting changes were also investigated.MethodsThe study used purposive sampling to select five private schools of migrant children in Guangzhou. A total of 1900 students in Grades 3 and 4 were recruited. A self-administered questionnaire was used in November 2011 to understand their basic situations, including oral health knowledge, behaviors and parental practices. A final survey was conducted in April 2013 to detect any changes.ResultsThe mean accuracy of oral health knowledge was 53.17% and 59.42% in 2011 and 2013, respectively (p < 0.001). For migrant children, the total score of oral hygiene, dietary habits and parental practices increased at the follow-up evaluation (p < 0.05). Children with less oral health knowledge were more likely to achieve significantly positive changes in score of knowledge (p < 0.001) in the final survey. Migrant children who had worse performance on oral hygiene (beta estimate = 0.68, p < 0.001), dietary habits (beta estimate = 0.58, p < 0.001) and good parental practices in the baseline survey were more likely to obtain beneficial changes. No significant associations between demographic characteristics and changes of oral health knowledge and behaviors (p > 0.05) were observed.ConclusionOral health knowledge, behaviors and parental practices among migrant children significantly improved at the follow-up assessment. However, the overall situation was still poor. Positive and effective health education and prevention programs tailored to rural–urban migrant children with varying levels of oral health knowledge, behaviors and parental practices will be needed.
Highlights
Despite the growing number of rural–urban migrant children in China, follow-up observation on the oral health of migrant children is still scarce
The situation of oral health knowledge, behaviors and parental practices among migrant children significantly improved during the study, but the overall level was still poor at the follow-up evaluation
Our results showed that oral health knowledge, behaviors and parental practices in the baseline survey were associated with changes of oral health knowledge and behaviors one year later
Summary
Despite the growing number of rural–urban migrant children in China, follow-up observation on the oral health of migrant children is still scarce. With the fast economic development, the internal migrant population in China who generally moved from the countryside to the city has grown rapidly. Carious teeth are left untreated among 97% of children aged 5 and 89% of children aged 12 [6].This situation has barely improved, despite the economic development and oral health-care resource provision [7]. The oral health status among rural–urban migrant children may be even worse considering their relatively poor family economic status, less concern from parents, and limited basic health care. By 2011, the overall caries prevalence among rural–urban migrant children in South China was 85.5%, significantly higher than the averages statistics for both rural and urban areas [9]
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