250 - Barriers for Seeking Care by Caregivers of Pediatric Dental Patients

Purpose: Pediatric oral health care is recommended to begin at 1 year of age.  Children who establish a dental home are more likely to receive appropriate oral health care and improve the families’ oral health knowledge and practices. The purpose of this study is to identify possible barriers responsible for seeking or not seeking dental care by parents of pediatric dental patients.  

Methods:  Anonymous surveys were administered to the parents/guardians of children 5 years old or younger who came to the NCEF pediatric dental clinic for their first dental visit or first recall appointment. Information was collected about reasons for completing their first dental visit on time, delaying their children’s dental visits, and demographics.   IRB approved the survey instrument and data analysis was completed using…

Results:  A total of 99 surveys were completed mostly by mothers whose average age was 31.54 years old. The bivariate analysis findings showed that the variable “referred by the pediatrician,” “parents currently employed” and “school required a dental visit” were statistically significant (P < 0.05) with respect to the child’s first visit to the dentist at one year of age and younger.  Logistic regression analysis showed that unemployment status of the parent/guardian was the main predictor for the timely first dental visit (OR=0,230; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0,095-0,556) 

Conclusion:   The main predictor for children having the first dental visit before one-year-old or less was Parents/guardians who are unemployed are more likely to bring their children into the dentist sooner than parents/guardians who are employed.