Conhecimento dos pais em relação aos cuidados com a saúde bucal de crianças

Abstract

Children are dependent on their parents, so it is very important to investigate their knowledge about habits that impact their children's well-being. The objective of this study was to evaluate parents' knowledge about oral health care for children. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, with parents who were accompanying their children in the waiting rooms of the Pediatric Dentistry Clinics of the School of Dentistry of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (FAO/UFMG). A total of 193 parents of children aged 1 to 12 years were included in the study. Trained researchers administered an interview form developed for the study that addressed questions related to demographic and socioeconomic data, family context, child and parent health, sources from which parents sought health information, and their knowledge about oral health care for their children. The study was submitted to and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) (protocol number: 6.803.253). All guardians signed an Informed Consent Form (ICF) agreeing to their participation and that of their child in the study. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 25 and included descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. Most participants were female (76.2%) and had completed high school (54.9%). The mean total knowledge score was 3.60 (SD = 0.97), and only 18.1% of participants answered all questions correctly. The question with the most correct answers was about the need to treat deciduous teeth (96.4%), and the one with the most incorrect answers was about the use of fluoridated toothpaste (55.4% correct). The following were associated with higher knowledge scores: belonging to the white/yellow/indigenous races (PR: 1.09; 95% CI 1.01-1.18; p=0.033); female gender (PR=1.10; 95% CI 1.01-1.22; p=0.041) and age between 22 and 38 years (PR=1.12; 95% CI 1.04-1.20; p=0.003). Parents who did not take their child to the dentist before the first deciduous tooth appeared (PR: 0.86; 95% CI 0.80-0.94; p<0.001) had lower knowledge scores. Parents' knowledge about child oral health care was high and was associated with sociodemographic characteristics and access to early oral health care.