Readiness of parents to attend first dental visit within three years of child's age: An analysis applying Anderson's behavior model of health and utilization.

BACKGROUND

A First Dental Visit (FDV) is significant for the child as it allows the dentist to counsel parents and enables the early detection, prevention, and treatment of dental caries. To investigate the readiness of parents to attend their first dental visit within 3 years of the child's age using Andersen's behavior model of health and utilization.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

In this cross-sectional questionnaire study, the sample was collected from the parents of children within 3 years of age. Considering that 14.3% is the assumed proportion (P) of willingness to attend the FDV, the sample size was 208. Samples were collected from the outpatient department of pediatric wards and other centers such as vaccination camps, and daycare in Chengalpattu district using a questionnaire based on Anderson's model. Using logistic regression, the willingness to attend the FDV was obtained.

RESULTS

Out of 208 samples, 10 (4.8%) of them had visited the dentist before 3 years of age and 198 (95.19%) were not aware to visit the dentist. 94.7% of parents selected healthy teeth as a reason for not visiting the dentist, and only 22 of them were planning to visit the dentist in the next 3 months.

CONCLUSION

The study concluded that rather than waiting for an oral health issue to arise, parental knowledge about FDVs should be improved and encouraged to attend the FDV early.