Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude toward Pediatric Dental Procedures among Parents in Bareilly City: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Most parents are unaware of the role that a pediatric dentist plays in their child’s life, and the importance of dental visits at an
early age is underestimated as most believe that the milk teeth are going to exfoliate and it not worth paying much attention to. Hence, the
study was conducted with the objective to assess the parental knowledge of the importance they give to primary teeth and to evaluate their
attitudes toward the management of a symptomatic primary tooth, and acceptance of preventive procedures.
Materials and methods: A questionnaire was given to all the parents of children who were in the age group up to 12 years. One hundred
completely filled questionnaires were included in the study.
Statistical analysis: All data were entered in an excel sheet and the analysis was done using Pearson’s Chi-square test.
Results: Out of the selected parents, over 81% of the parents knew the importance of primary dentition, whereas 18% were unaware of the
same. The awareness about the specialty of pediatric dentistry was among 54.5% of the parents. Whereas the knowledge of root canal treatment
as well as the capping procedure was among 40.6% of the parents.
Conclusion: From the results of the study, it was apparent that attitude and awareness among parents regarding regular dental visits and
the importance of accepting preventive dental procedures at an early age is limited. Improvement of knowledge in this regard is of utmost
importance for long-term maintenance and improvement of healthy dentition for children.
Keywords: Pediatric dentist, Preventive dental procedures, Primary dentition.
Journal of Dental Sciences and Oral Rehabilitation (2019): 10.5005/jp-journals-10086-1212