Provision of sugar-free medicines for young children: the views of a sample of parents in Northern Ireland.

Sugar in liquid medicines is a factor in dental caries for many children. There has been an increase in the availability of sugar-free medicines in recent years, but they need to be prescribed specifically, because most generic liquid medicines still contain sugar. The object of the present study was to examine parental and child factors which may be linked to the provision of sugar-free alternatives by their medical practitioner. A random sample of 291 parents of children aged four years was obtained. A questionnaire was used to ascertain the extent of their knowledge concerning liquid medicines and their effect on dental health and the frequency with which such medicines are requested by them was assessed. The levels of provision of sugar-free medication and the frequency of used common types of medication were recorded and long term users identified. There was a total of 212 children in the study representing an inclusion rate of 73 per cent of the original sample. Just more than 17 per cent were always provided with a sugar-free liquid medicine, 58.3 per cent sometimes received this form of medication and 24.6 per cent never received it. The strongest individual predictor of a high frequency of provision of the medication in sugar-free form was the frequency of parents requesting this type of medication from their medical doctor and the next strongest predictor was the frequency of use of antibiotics. Parental awareness or knowledge of the importance of the issue for dental health did not affect the outcome in the present study. It is concluded that there is a need for specific campaigns to promote the use of sugar-free medications and further increases in their availability should be sought from manufacturers.