Management of early childhood caries through parental diet counselling: A pilot study in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Untreated early childhood caries (ECC) is a significant global public health condition associated with pain, infection, sleeps disturbances and impaired psychosocial development. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the effectiveness of parental dietary counselling in managing Early Childhood Caries (ECC) among 39 children (≤6 years) at a tertiary care hospital in Bhopal. Diet was assessed using the Starting the Conversation (STC) questionnaire and a 24-hour diet diary, showing reduction after one year. There was a significant decrease in STC scores, sugar exposure and number of decayed teeth (p < 0.0001), with birth order exposure influencing liquid sugar exposure. Thus, parental dietary counselling effectively reduces sugar exposure and caries progression, supporting its role in ECC prevention and management.