Abstract
(1) Background: Parents play an important role in children’s oral health by contributing to the development of proper oral hygiene and eating behaviors as well as offering the child access to dental services. The aim of this study was the evaluation of parents’ involvement in their child’s visits to the dental office. (2) Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020 in Romania on a sample of 105 parents using an online self-administered questionnaire. (3) Results: Only 9.52% of parents brought their children to the dental office for their first visit in their 1st year of life; 51.53% of children visit the dentist at least once a year but for only 42.86% of children, the reason of their last visit was a regular dental check-up. (4) Conclusions: parents underestimate the role of dental service utilization for their children; the first visit to the dental office for most children is at an older age than optimal, the frequency of dental visits is less than recommended, and they are treatment-oriented.
Highlights
Onset of dental caries among children has a major impact on their quality of life since usually, dental pain is present on the one hand, and there is an impairment in their cognitive and social development on the other hand [1,2,3]
(4) Conclusions: parents underestimate the role of dental service utilization for their children; the first visit to the dental office for most children is at an older age than optimal, the frequency of dental visits is less than recommended, and they are treatment-oriented
The subgroups were set in this way because: 1 year and under is the age recommended by the international consensus for the first dental check-up for children and for suitable preventive guidance for parents provided by a dental health care professional; in addition, at the age of 3 years as well as 5 years, it is recommended for children to be surveyed for Early Childhood Caries in order to establish both their preventive and curative needs; the age of 6 years is important since that is the age when the first permanent teeth start their eruption [4]
Summary
Onset of dental caries among children has a major impact on their quality of life since usually, dental pain is present on the one hand, and there is an impairment in their cognitive and social development on the other hand [1,2,3]. In the first years of a child’s life, exposure to risk factors for caries should be kept to a minimum with a great contribution from the parents, who should be involved in promoting healthy habits for the child [4]. Should children’s oral hygiene and eating habits be developed and supported by the parents as key actions for dental caries prevention, and regular dental check-ups should be considered starting from under 1 year of life [4,5]. Dental professionals are able to perform a caries risk assessment, apply preventive treatments, and when needed, provide minimally invasive curative treatment, in addition to offering patient-centered recommendations for parents and creating a comfortable and safe environment for children in the dental office [4,6]
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