Article ID: WMC004733
ISSN 2046-1690
Evaluation of oral health knowledge among care
takers working in baby day care centers of greater
hyderabad
Peer review status:
No
Corresponding Author:
Dr. Shanti Kanakamedala,
Postgraduate student, Department of Public health dentistry, Sri Sai college of dental college, Vikarabad,
Telangana - India
Submitting Author:
Dr. Shanti K,
Postgraduate student, Department of Public health dentistry, Sri Sai college of dental college, Vikarabad,
Telangana - India
Other Authors:
Dr. Parthasarathi Reddy ,
Professor and Head, Department of Public health dentistry, Sri Sai college of dental college, Vikarabad,
Telangana - India
Dr. Md S Anjum,
Professor, Department of Public health dentistry, Sri Sai college of dental college, Vikarabad, Telangana - India
Dr. Mocherla Monica,
Reader, Department of Public health dentistry, Sri Sai college of dental college, Vikarabad, Telangana - India
Dr. Koppula Yadav,
Reader, Department of Public health dentistry, Sri Sai college of dental college, Vikarabad, Telangana - India
Dr. Irram Abbas,
Senior Lecturer, Department of Public health dentistry, Sri Sai college of dental college, Vikarabad, Telangana India
Article ID: WMC004733
Article Type: Original Articles
Submitted on:22-Oct-2014, 03:14:36 PM GMT
Published on: 24-Oct-2014, 11:01:55 AM GMT
Article URL: http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/4733
Subject Categories:PUBLIC HEALTH
Keywords:Care givers, knowledge, oral health, dental caries, pacifier, balanced diet
How to cite the article:Reddy P, Anjum MS, Monica M, Yadav K, Abbas I, Kanakamedala S. Evaluation of oral
health knowledge among care takers working in baby day care centers of greater hyderabad. WebmedCentral
PUBLIC HEALTH 2014;5(10):WMC004733
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original author and source are credited.
Source(s) of Funding:
None
Competing Interests:
None
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Evaluation of oral health knowledge among care
takers working in baby day care centers of greater
hyderabad
Author(s): Reddy P, Anjum MS, Monica M, Yadav K, Abbas I, Kanakamedala S
Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the oral health knowledge
among caretakers working in baby day care centres.
Methodology: The present study is a descriptive
cross sectional study conducted to evaluate the oral
health knowledge among caretakers in baby day care
centres of Greater Hyderabad over a period of one
month from December2012 – January 2013.SPSS
version 14.0 was used to evaluate the collected data.
Results: Likert scale was used for recording the
responses of the study subjects. 69% agreed that
caries can effect infants below 2 yrs of age and 31.3%
of the care takers did not have the knowledge about
this. 52.7% strongly agree that the child should rinse
the mouth after every meal and 47.3 did not know this.
60.7% of the care takers do not give any oral hygiene
instructions to the kids and only 39.3% of the care
takers give oral hygiene instructions. 74.7% did not
know when the child should be taken to a dentist and
0.7% of the care takers had the knowledge about this.
56% of the care takers did not have the knowledge
whether sugar added fruit juice should be given to the
child before naptime and 40.7% disagreed to this.
Conclusion: Care givers knowledge towards oral
health plays an important role in maintaining the oral
hygiene and oral health of the child. Dental care needs
should be improved. The study gives us an insight to
so far an unknown domain.
Introduction
Oral health is an important aspect of general health in
infants and children and impacts the quality of life and
health outcomes. As we know children are the future
of any nation more attention and care is required.
Among the dental problems dental caries is the most
existing and prevailing problem which effects the
children of low and high economic communities
without any discrimination1. Now, as children spend
most of their time in a day outside home it is time to
watch out what are the factors which lead to the
disease. The nuclear system of families have emerged
and this is also one reason where the children are
WebmedCentral > Original Articles
send to day care centres to look after. Here the
caretakers come into focus. The knowledge of the
caretaker is very important in imbibing the good oral
health behaviour to the children. The children come
from different communities where their standard of
living differ from one another. So, the care taker
should be patient enough to inculcate good oral health
behaviour in them. The caretaker knowledge is also
very important. Mothers are undoubtedly the primary
source of early education in children with regard to a
good oral health. But in 21st century as most of the
mothers tend to work and they work most of the time
in a day outside their homes in order to increase their
quality of life2. As it was conceived long ago, children
are an important for oral health education and thus
agreed among dental health educators. So, dental
health education given to mothers and aimed at
children is more concerned with forming habits, rather
than trying to manage established routines. Behaviour
learnt during the child’s first year becomes deeply
ingrained and resistant to change1. Children at this
tender age inherit health practices from their parents,
but in this workaholic era children often find
themselves under the care of caretakers in places
such as day care centres. Day care is a care of child
during the day by a person other than the child’s
parents or legal guardians3. Now the role of care taker
comes into existence. Here the role of the care taker is
similar to that of a school teacher and may be even
more important as they are involved with children’s
daily diet, general hygiene and oral health care4. Many
studies have focused on parents, school teachers and
school children oral health knowledge, attitudes and
practices, there are not many studies which focused
on the role of care takers in promoting oral health of
the children under their care in day care centre. The
aim of the present study was done to evaluate the oral
health knowledge among care takers in baby day care
centres of Greater Hyderabad as the children spend
most of their time in a day care centre and the role of
care taker is important in maintaining the oral health of
the children under their care.
Methodology
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The present study is a descriptive, cross-sectional,
epidemiological survey conducted on care takers
working in baby day care centres to evaluate their oral
health knowledge regarding oral health and diet. The
study population comprised of care takers working in
baby day care centres of Hyderabad city. 40 day care
centres, which are scattered throughout Hyderabad
city and are divided geographically into five zones
were randomly selected by the investigators. In 40
centres employing 160 caretakers 150 provided
consent for participation after the study purpose was
explained to them. Day care centres whose
permission was obtained from the higher authorities
and care takers present at the time of the study and
who were willing to participate and agreed to give
informed consent (verbal consent) were included. A
Pilot study was carried out on a sample of 30 subjects
to check the feasibility of conducting the survey and
understanding the questionnaire. This pilot study also
helped in exacting the pre-designed proforma (which
included questions on socio demographic factors like
age, sex, name of the centres, questions regarding
their knowledge on oral health and diet) and in making
modifications wherever necessary to design the final
proforma. The study was systematically scheduled for
a period of about two months from December 2012January 2013. For the collection of data, a specially
designed, pre tested questionnaire was used to test
the knowledge. The questionnaire consisted of
demographic data and questions regarding knowledge
of oral health and diet. The purpose of the study was
explained to the care takers and only those who were
willing to participate were asked to answer the
questions.
when the child should be consulted by a dentist.(Fig 4)
Distribution of study subjects based on their opinion
about using pacifier dipped in honey/ sugar if the kids
acted troublesome is better.(Fig 5).
Discussion
This study presents the oral health knowledge of care
takers working in baby day care centres of Greater
Hyderabad. Inspite of the reduction of the prevalence
of dental caries in many countries the children are still
experiencing dental caries. The underlying cause for
this might be lack of education attainment, poverty and
also due to different cultures in different communities.
Parents and the caretakers of the children are held
responsible for their oral hygiene, and their dietary
practices and in turn the dental caries experience also1.
Results
A total of 160 subjects were approached from different
day care centres of Hyderabad city and a total of 150
subjects who were interested in participation of the
study were noted and the response rate was 93.75%.
In the present study according to 93.3% of the
subjects brushing baby’s teeth is important whereas in
a similar study done by Vinay S et al1 only 78% of the
subjects believed so and these findings give the
awareness of the subjects regarding the oral condition
of the child. About 38.7% of the subjects correctly
answered that the first tooth appears between 6
months –one year these results contradict the results
of similar study done by Chan et al2 where only 15% of
the subjects answered correctly and this might be due
to the subjects inability to recall the time though it is
one of the important moment in a child’s life time and
this has been given importance in the present study.
According to 47% of the subjects caries can effect
infants below 2 years of age and this was contradicted
in the similar study done by Mani et al4 where 32% of
the subjects had the knowledge about this and this
might be due to lack of their attention towards this.
The present study is a descriptive, cross-sectional,
epidemiological survey conducted on care takers
working in baby day care centres to evaluate their oral
health knowledge regarding oral health and diet.
Distribution of study subjects based on their
knowledge that caries can effect infants below 2 years
of age. (Fig 1) Distribution of study subjects based on
their knowledge of appearance of first milk tooth.(Fig 2)
Distribution of study subjects based on their
knowledge of changing feeding from baby bottle to
sipping cup at the age 8-9 months(Fig 3) Distribution
of study subjects based on their knowledge about
74.7% of the study subjects in the present study did
not know that a child should be consulted/taken to a
dentist before one yr of age whereas in other similar
studies atleast 45% of the study subjects had the
knowledge about this. The result of the present study
shows that unless the child have some problem/pain
the caregiver/the parent did not feel necessary to
consult a dentist and also due to the false perception
of the parents that no dental problem exists in children.
64% of the study subjects disagreed that a pacifier
dipped in honey/sugar must be used if the child acted
troublesome and in contradiction to this in a similar
study done by Chan et al2 30% of the study subjects
had to use this. In the present study the subjects say
For statistical analysis data was done using SPSS
version 14. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered
statistically significant. Descriptive statistical analysis
was done for all the results.
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that once this will be used it becomes as a habit for
the child and it is difficult to break the habit and also it
may cause dental caries. 56% of the study subjects
agree that a sugar added fruit juice should be given to
the child before naptime and this was observed
similarly in a study done by Fathima et al5 and the
reason for this is the study subjects did not know that
the hidden sugars in the fruit juice and the
consumption of this through bottle also may lead to
tooth decay. 70% of the study subjects strongly
agreed that the lunch box should be given to the child
by the parents so that it also helps them in noticing the
oral health of the child by the type of food consumed
by the child and it helps them to reduce in the sugar
intake of the child and helps the child in maintainance
of better oral health of the child and this was observed
in a similar study done by Aisha et al10. Limitations of
the present study were that the sample size was small
because the care takers present on the day of the
study were taken into consideration. This study done
on caretakers gives us an information of their
knowledge towards oral health but they are not able to
encounter the barriers due to lack of education, their
working schedule and the knowledge about what type
of diet should be given at what age and this is the
main drawback in giving good preventive care to the
child.
Conclusion(s)
Care givers knowledge towards oral health plays an
important role in maintaining the oral hygiene and oral
health of the child. Dental care needs should be
improved and the study gives us an insight to so far an
unknown domain.
Reference(s)
4. Mani SA, Aziz AA, John J, Ismail NM. Knowledge,
attitude and practice of oral health promoting factors
among caretakers of children attending day-care
centers in Kubang Kerian, Malaysia: A preliminary
study. J Indian Soc Pedod Prevent Dent. Apr - June
2010 Issue 2 Vol 28
5. N. J. Williams, J. G. Whittle and A. C. Gatrell. The
relationship between socidemographic characteristics
and dental health knowledge and attitudes of parents
with young children. Bri Dent J December 2002,vol
193, issue 7.
6. Fatima Ashkanani Mona Al-Sane. Knowledge,
Attitudes and Practices of Caregivers in Relation to
Oral Health of Preschool Children. Med Princ Pract
2013;22:167-172Z. Saied-Moallemi , J. I.Virtanen , F.
Ghofranipour , H. Murtomaa , Influence of mothers'
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dental health European Archives of Paediatric
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7. M.-L. Mattila, P. Rautava, M. Sillanpaa, and P.
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Marita Rohr Inglehart, Dr. phil. Habil.
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Children's Oral Health. Journal of Dental Hygiene, Vol.
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1. Vinay S, Naveen N, Naganandini N. Feeding and
oral hygiene habits of children attending daycare
centres in Bangalore and their caretakers oral health
knowledge, attitude and practices. Indian J of Dent
Res, 22(4), 2011
2. Chan SC, Tsai JS, King NM. Feeding and oral
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3. Martignon S, Gonzalez MC, Santamaria RM,
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Illustrations
Illustration 1
Distribution of study subjects based on their knowledge that caries can effect infants below 2 years of age.
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Illustration 2
Distribution of study subjects based on their knowledge of appearance of first milk tooth
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Illustration 3
Distribution of study subjects based on their knowledge of changing feeding from baby bottle to sipping cup at the age 8-9 months
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Illustration 4
Distribution of study subjects based on their knowledge about when the child should be consulted by a dentist
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Illustration 5
Distribution of study subjects based on their opinion about using pacifier dipped in honey/ sugar if the kids acted troublesome is
better
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