Effect of oral health education on the parents knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding dietary habits in 4- to 6-year-old children and its relation to dental caries incidence: A prospective study

Aim: Four- to six-year-old children were examined to evaluate dental caries incidence in relation to knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward oral health and dietary practices among their parents, and improvements achieved through targeted oral health educational interventions. Materials and Methods: This was a longitudinal study over 1 year, with interventions at baseline and 6 months followed by evaluation at 1 year on children of two schools located at Bengaluru. The calculation of sample size was based on percentage of knowledge according to a pilot study = 66.87%, precision (%) = 5, desired confidence level (%) = 95, and sample size (n) = 340 samples were included. A 25-item KAP questionnaire on diet and dental caries was administered to parents along with an audio-visual intervention at baseline and oral health education booklet at 6 months. The children were examined at baseline and divided into two groups: Group A (caries free) and Group B (caries active). They were examined again at 1 year to evaluate impact of interventions on KAP of their parents, data recorded on modified World Health Organization (WHO) form, statistical analysis was done. Results: Group A showed higher mean scores for KAP with P value of (P < 0.001) being statistically significant. Z-test for proportions to evaluate deterioration in attitudes and practices among parents showed difference in proportion of samples with worsening in Groups A and B not statistically significant (P > 0.05, respectively). Conclusion: Diet is an important determinant in incidence of caries in the community, KAP toward dietary practices of caregivers of children impacts caries incidence.