Talekar Bhavna S, Rozier R Gary, Slade Gary D, Ennett Susan T
Department of Health Policy and Administration, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7411, USA.
J Am Dent Assoc. 2005 Mar;136(3):364-72; quiz 381. doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.2005.0179.
Parents have an important role in making decisions about their children's oral health. The purpose of the authors' study was to determine parental perceptions of their children's oral health status and factors correlated with these perceptions of health.
The authors analyzed data for 3,424 children (2-5 years of age) from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They based the dependent variable on a question asked of primary caregivers: "How would you describe the condition of [child's name]'s natural teeth?" Explanatory variables included demographic variables, dental visits, perception of child's general health, need for dental care and presence of tooth caries.
Eighty-nine percent of parents rated their child's oral health as excellent, very good or good, and 11 percent rated it as fair or poor (mean = 2.7 on a five-point scale, with 1 being excellent and 5 being poor). Tooth caries, perceived need for dental cleaning and treatment, lower income and poorer general health perceptions were associated with poorer parental ratings.
Actual disease and perceived need are associated significantly with parents' perceptions of their children's oral health.
Understanding parents' perceptions of their children's oral health and factors that motivate these perceptions can help dentistry overcome barriers that parents encounter in accessing dental care for their children.
父母在决定孩子的口腔健康方面起着重要作用。作者进行这项研究的目的是确定父母对其子女口腔健康状况的看法以及与这些健康看法相关的因素。
作者分析了第三次全国健康和营养检查调查中3424名2至5岁儿童的数据。他们将因变量基于向主要照顾者提出的一个问题：“你会如何描述[孩子名字]的天然牙齿状况？”解释变量包括人口统计学变量、看牙就诊情况、对孩子总体健康的看法、对牙科护理的需求以及龋齿的存在情况。
89%的父母将孩子的口腔健康评为优秀、非常好或良好，11%的父母将其评为一般或较差（五分制平均分为2.7，1分为优秀，5分为差）。龋齿、认为需要进行牙齿清洁和治疗、较低的收入以及对总体健康状况较差的看法与父母较低的评分相关。
实际疾病和感知到的需求与父母对其子女口腔健康的看法显著相关。
了解父母对其子女口腔健康的看法以及促使这些看法形成的因素，有助于牙科领域克服父母在为子女获得牙科护理时遇到的障碍。
