Knowledge and attitude of parents toward child dental visits in a rural setting in Nigeria

Introduction: The study determined the proportion of rural parents with good knowledge about and good attitude toward children making their first dental visit by their first birthday. It also assessed the association among age, sex, level of education, past dental visits of parents, and knowledge about and good attitude toward children making their first dental visit by their first birthday. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that collected data from 115 parents in a rural setting using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data on age, sex, level of education, past dental visits, knowledge about, and attitude toward children making their first dental visit by their first birthday were collected from one of the parents of children aged 16 years and below. Socio-demographic factors associated with knowledge about and attitude to a child's dental visit were considered significant at the level of P < 0.05 using the Chi-square test. Logistic regression was conducted to determine the predictor of good knowledge. Results: The age of the study participants ranged from 15 years to 63 years with a mean of 40 ± 15.51 years. Only 25 (21.7%) parents had visited the dentist. More females 31 (40.3%) than males 6 (15.8%) significantly (P = 0.008) had good knowledge of child dental visits while more males 12 (31.6%) than females 6 (7.8%) (P = 0.001) and a greater percentage of those with past dental visits 8 (32.0%) had significantly (P = 0.02) good attitude to child dental visit. Conclusion: More mothers had good knowledge of child dental visits, while more fathers and those with past dental visits had a good attitude toward child dental visits.