Mothers’ knowledge regarding the relationship between dental pain and early childhood caries in association with bottle-feeding Practices

Abstract

Background: All the previous studies were concerned with determining the prevalence of dental pain and dental caries among children. Hence, this study aimed to accumulate data concerning the mothers’ knowledge regarding the relationship between dental pain and early childhood caries in association with bottle feeding practices.

Methodology: This was a validated, self-administered questionnaire-based cross-sectional study conducted among the general population of Karachi consisting of parents specifically mothers or caregivers of children aged 1-5 years. The ECC symptoms in children were characterized and mothers’ knowledge was assessed for the ECC.

Results: Most caregivers were postgraduate (36%), middle-class (55%), and mothers (76%), and lived in a joint family system (61%). It was found that 45% of participants had extremely frequent bottle-feeding practices and the majority of the parents/ caregivers were highly knowledgeable (72%) regarding the symptoms of ECC concerning the frequency of bottle feeding (P-value = 0.001). Further, multivariate regression analysis significantly indicated that participants having education till college level and above (P-value = 0.001), participants who were students (P-value = 0.014) or were engaged in part-time jobs (P-value = 0.007), and mothers (P-value = 0.008) or grandparents (P-value = 0.007) as the main caregiver were more knowledgeable about the ECC symptoms.

Conclusion: Although the current study revealed high knowledge of ECC among the participants. Despite this, the parents of children with ECC face a severe knowledge gap, which is interfering with the selection of proper oral hygiene aids for their children.