Page 12 - GP Spring 2025

Oral Health Literacy of Parental Guardians and
Childhood Caries in Pediatric Patients

Authors: Nirja Patel, MBS, Priyanka Chokshi, DDS, and Lucretia Depaola-Cefola, DDS

Abstract: NYU dental students, who are the authors psychological status, oral health status,
Introduction: Oral health literacy is a de- of this paper, the patient’s father has been and socio-demographic factors such as so-
gree to which individuals can obtain, un- more focused on completing the required cio-economic status, education level, eth-
derstand, and process health information dental treatments for his son rather than nicity, urbanization, and access to dental
and services to make well-informed oral implementing proper oral hygiene at home. care. Most studies measured childhood
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health decisions. Parental guardians are This is evident as the patient consistently caries by variations in the number of de-
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responsible for making oral health deci- demonstrates poor oral hygiene at each cayed (Dd1), missing (Mm), filled (Ff)
sions for pediatric patients. Since decidu- dental appointment despite repeated re- surfaces (Ss), or teeth (Tt) rates, or by the
ous teeth play a significant role in the oral minders of its importance for preventive presence or absence of caries (i.e., DMFT/
health of permanent teeth, the aim of this care. dmft > 0). Studies were excluded if they
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review was to see if limited oral health did not measure dental caries, did not as-
literacy of parental guardians contributes Introduction: The relationship between sess parental guardian factors, or did not
to childhood caries in pediatric patients. literacy and health is complex. Literacy

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Methods: A literature review was conduct- significantly influences health knowledge, explore the relationship between childhood
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ed, using data evaluating factors such as health status, and access to health services. caries and parental guardian influences.
parental guardian behavior, oral health lit- The World Health Organization defines The study examined various methodolo-
eracy, education, attitudes, knowledge, and health literacy as the ability of individu- gies, including questionnaires, analyses,
beliefs. 3,5,6 Only studies using the Decayed als to “gain access to, understand, and use and regression models. Different studies
Missing Filled Teeth (DMFT) index were information in ways which promote and measured oral health literacy using the
included, to ensure the validity of dental maintain good health” for themselves, their Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Den-
caries assessments. Results: There is an families, and their communities. Health tistry-30 (REALD-30) or its variants.
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association between dental caries and pa- literacy is an evolving concept; higher lev- The REALD-30 tool, derived from the
rental guardian attributes, behaviors, oral els of health literacy within populations can REALM tool used in medicine, is a dental
health, attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs. 3,4,7 address environmental, political, and social word recognition instrument that increas-
There is an association between parental factors that determine health outcomes. es in difficulty. Parental guardians were
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guardian behavior, oral health literacy, and Health literacy is critical in improving required to read 30 common dental words
children’s caries experience. Higher ed- health outcomes and must be recognized aloud, receiving a score of 1 for correct
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ucation levels of parental guardians had a and addressed by governments and health answers and 0 for incorrect answers. The
positive impact on oral health-related qual- systems. According to the American Den- REALD-30 scores were categorized into
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ity of life of children. Conclusion: The tal Association, oral health literacy refers low oral health literacy (scores 0–12) and
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association between oral health literacy in to how individuals can obtain, process, and high oral health literacy (scores 13–30).
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parental guardians and childhood caries in understand basic health information and Additionally, the Knowledge, Attitudes,
pediatric patients is complex. While it is services necessary for making informed and Practices (KAP) questionnaire was
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difficult to change the level of formal edu- oral health decisions. Oral health literacy used to examine the relationship between
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cation of parental guardians, it is less dif- is vital for improving and maintaining oral KAP, REALD-30 scores, and DMFT. This
ficult to change health knowledge and at- health, especially since the health of decid-
titudes of parental guardians. Oral health uous teeth affects that of permanent teeth. close-ended questionnaire consisted of 18
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literacy is essential and should be under- Parental guardians play a crucial role in questions assessing the behavior of pa-
stood and practiced by all dental providers. making oral health decisions for children, rental guardians regarding their children’s
Dental providers should educate parental leading to the clinical question: “Does lim- oral health, focusing on knowledge, atti-
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guardians on oral health to improve overall ited oral health literacy of parental guard- tudes, and practices. Furthermore, oral
oral health outcomes in children. 1,10 The ians contribute to childhood caries in pedi- health-related quality of life was assessed,
efforts in oral health literacy will shift oral atric patients?” This study aims to explore evaluating characteristics such as tooth-
health care management to a preventive ap- the influence of parental guardians on chil- brush frequency, daily sugar intake, health
proach. 11,12 dren’s oral health, specifically regarding literacy, dental caries prevalence, age, sex,
the prevalence of dental caries. number of siblings, household income,
Background: A 17-year-old adolescent crowding, and socio-economic status.
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male patient presented with severely de- Methods: The authors conducted a series
cayed teeth, a condition shared by his fa- of literature reviews, which included a Results: After analyzing data collected
ther, who serves as his parental guardian. mix of systematic reviews and observa- from literature reviews, the results were
The patient has routinely visited the clinic tional studies. The review encompassed formulated. There were numerous results
once a week since the summer of 2023 for data from various continents, focusing on in this study, however, this study chose to
regular dental treatment after an extensive factors associated with parental guardian share a few that were noteworthy findings
treatment plan was provided to him and influence, specifically parental guardian that focused on parental guardian behav-
his father. It has been suggested that both oral health literacy. Factors analyzed in iors, attitudes, knowledge and beliefs since
the patient and his father possess limited this study included parental guardian atti- these factors influence the decisions paren-
oral health literacy and poor oral health tudes, knowledge, beliefs, feeding practic- tal guardians make for their children, the
conditions. Despite continued efforts by es, involvement and supervision behaviors, behaviors they model for their children and
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