Dental Caries in Children and Community-based Preventative Education

Abstract

Dental caries in children is one of the most widespread chronic diseases globally. Risk factors such as poor oral hygiene, poor dietary habits, lack of follow-up dental visits, and low parental literacy on oral health have been identified in the literature to be associated with this disease. Failed efforts at preventing dental caries in children could result in costly intensive services such as dental extractions in operating rooms or Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs) under general anesthesia. Children who undergo surgical extraction could experience serious, long-term consequences due to the early exposure of anesthesia to the developing brain. Some of these children still develop recurrence of dental caries post dental rehabilitation with the need for repeated treatment under general anesthesia. Parents and caregivers have great influence on their children’s oral health behaviors including what they eat and drink. Evidence shows that improvement in parental knowledge on appropriate oral health behaviors plays a key role in preventing dental caries in children. Therefore, the goal of this scholarly project is to determine how a 15-minute educational PowerPoint presentation on proper oral health to parents of children between the age of two to eight at a Central Florida Dental Clinic will impact their knowledge on proper oral health behaviors. A quantitative quasi-experimental method will be used for the scholarly project because it is identified as appropriate to examine the differences before and after an intervention.