Aim: To assess the impact of individual health-oriented parent education on eating and hygienic habits, oral hygiene level, and dentition condition in children with a high risk of caries.
Material and methods: Eating and hygienic practices, oral hygiene level (DI-S) and dentition condition were evaluated during one year, every three months, in 81 children aged 18-71 months. At each visit parents were provided with the information on caries causes, nutrition and hygiene tips, and were shown the brushing routine to follow and the necessary preventive care routine.
Results: The examination of the mean number of snack, juice/sweetened drink and sweets intake in a day, of the mean toothbrushing frequency and the clinical examination ensured a considerable improvement in eating and hygienic habits and in oral hygiene. The percentage of children having more than three snacks a day decreased from 40.7% to 16%, of children having sweets from 32.1% to 11.11%, and of children drinking juices/sweetened drinks more than three times a day from 48.1% to 25.9%. At the initial examination, 74.1% of children declared to be brushing their teeth twice a day, versus 91.4% at the final examination. The mean DI-S decreased from 1.19±0.71 to 0.72±0.48. Caries intensity scored with the dmft index increased from 5.14±4.25 to 6.99±4.68.
Conclusions: Individual health-oriented parent education has a positive influence on changing hygienic and eating habits and decreasing the mean DI-S index in children with high risk of caries.