Parental education leads to preventive dental treatment for patients under the age of four.

Records from a pediatric dentist's practice, for selected periods of time over a twenty-three-year span (1966-1988), were reviewed to determine the number of patients under four years of age seen for initial dental visits and the reason for the first visit. Reasons given by parents seeking dental care for their children were categorized thus: preventive services, oral injuries, dental caries, and "other" conditions. A parental education system that stressed the benefits of a home-care program and early dental visits resulted in a 36.7 percent increase in children under the age of four seen for preventive services. Special note was taken of the influence of this program on the parents' decision to seek early preventive care for younger siblings of patients already in the practice.