Abstract
Background: Radiological examinations expose the patient to the adverse effects of ionizing radiation, which is more severe among developing children. This can cause excessive and unreasonable fear and anxiety for parents and even disrupt the treatment process. This study aimed to evaluate the parents’ knowledge about dental radiographs for children referred to dentistry, and to assess the relevant factors. Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional analytical study examining parents of children referred to dental clinics from October 2019 to April 2020. The required information included demographic information, and nine statements for assessing parents’ level of knowledge. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), independent t-test, and linear regression were used to analyze the data. Ward’s cluster analysis method with a squared Euclidean distance was adopted to include the background and demographic variables. Results: A total of 108 parents of children referred to Ilam dental clinics – including 69 females (68.3%) and 32 males (31.7%) in the 24-51 age range, participated in this study. Among the studied variables, the level of educational attainment of the parents had a highly significant influence (P<0.01) on their knowledge of pediatric radiography. Furthermore, parents holding bachelor’s degrees or higher with an average score of 5.35 had more heightened awareness of radiography than those in other educational groups. Conclusions: Examining the parental radiographic knowledge revealed significant differences among three groups of parents with educational attainment in favor of those with higher educational achievement. In general, three biographical variables, namely age, gender, and household size were found to be less influential. Therefore, the dentists should learn about the educational attainment of the parents and provide them with the required information on treatment accordingly. Due to the relatively poor knowledge of the parents about children’s dental radiographs, it is recommended that plans be developed for raising the parental awareness of the issue in order for reducing their unreasonable fears which may create a burden for dental treatment procedures.
Highlights
Radiological examinations expose the patient to the adverse effects of ionizing radiation, which is more severe among developing children
This study aimed to evaluate the level of parental awareness about the advantages and disadvantages of pediatric radiography
The results of the present study showed that parents’ age, their gender, number of children, age of the eldest child, and place of receiving dental treatment had no significant relationship with parental knowledge about dental radiographs
Summary
Radiological examinations expose the patient to the adverse effects of ionizing radiation, which is more severe among developing children. This can cause excessive and unreasonable fear and anxiety for parents and even disrupt the treatment process. The level of educational attainment of the parents had a highly significant influence (P < 0.01) on their knowledge of pediatric radiography. ► Effect of higher education on radiographic knowledge of parents ► Non-significant association between age and gender of parents and their knowledge regarding dental radiography of children and therapeutic purposes, they have the burden of potentially harmful effects related to radiation exposure on human. Children are likely at higher risk and more vulnerable to genetic damage induced by radiation exposure compared to adults as well as the young, since the fast-growing
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