Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Department of Stomatology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Xicheng District, Beijing, China.
J Dent Res. 2022 Mar;101(3):286-294. doi: 10.1177/00220345211036663. Epub 2021 Sep 13.
Early childhood caries is common in Hong Kong, and parental practices on maintaining good oral health of their young children are far from satisfactory. This article reports on the effectiveness of a randomized controlled trial on family-centered oral health promotion to new parents in establishing proper feeding habits and oral hygiene practices and in reducing caries risk among 3-y-old toddlers. At baseline, pregnant mothers and their husbands were recruited and randomly allocated into 2 groups. The test group received individualized oral health education (OHE) via a behavioral and educational counseling approach while the control group received the OHE pamphlets only. Information related to the feeding habits, oral hygiene practices, and oral health of the toddlers was collected by parent-completed questionnaires and oral examination annually via home visits. A total of 580 families were recruited at baseline, and 436 toddlers were followed up when they reached 3 y old (test, = 228; control, = 208; follow-up rate, 75.2%). The proportions of toddlers who held food in the mouth, fell asleep when milk feeding, had prolonged use of the nursing bottle, ate before bed, and consumed a sweet snack daily were significantly lower in the test group than in the control group (all < 0.05). Significantly higher proportions of toddlers brushed their own teeth twice daily, were brushed by their parents twice daily, and used fluoride toothpaste than in the control group (all < 0.001). Toddlers in the test group had better oral health status with a lower level of visible plaque, , white spot lesion, and cavitated lesion (all < 0.05). Family-centered oral health promotion and individualized OHE for parents via a behavioral and educational counseling approach are more effective in establishing good feeding habits and parental toothbrushing practices and in decreasing the caries risk of their toddlers than the distribution of OHE pamphlets alone (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02937194).
香港儿童龋齿发病率较高，家长在维护幼儿口腔健康方面的做法远不尽如人意。本文报告了一项针对新父母的以家庭为中心的口腔健康促进随机对照试验的效果，该试验旨在建立适当的喂养习惯和口腔卫生习惯，并降低 3 岁幼儿的龋齿风险。在基线时，招募了孕妇及其丈夫，并将他们随机分配到两组。实验组通过行为和教育咨询方法接受个体化口腔健康教育（OHE），而对照组仅接受 OHE 宣传册。通过家访每年以家长完成的问卷和口腔检查收集有关幼儿喂养习惯、口腔卫生习惯和口腔健康的信息。共有 580 个家庭在基线时被招募，当幼儿达到 3 岁时，有 436 名幼儿（实验组 = 228；对照组 = 208；随访率 75.2%）被随访。与对照组相比，实验组幼儿口中含食物、喂奶时入睡、长时间使用奶瓶、睡前进食和每天食用甜食的比例显著降低（均<0.05）。实验组幼儿每天刷牙两次、父母每天刷牙两次和使用含氟牙膏的比例显著高于对照组（均<0.001）。实验组幼儿的口腔健康状况更好，可见菌斑、白斑、窝沟龋的水平较低（均<0.05）。与单独分发 OHE 宣传册相比，以家庭为中心的口腔健康促进和通过行为与教育咨询为家长提供个体化 OHE 更有助于建立良好的喂养习惯和父母刷牙习惯，并降低幼儿的龋齿风险（ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02937194）。
