Perinatal Oral Health Education and Compliance with the First Dental Visit

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine which mode of education given to mothers of newborns resulted in the greatest compliance for establishing an age one dental visit and identify reasons why mothers do not bring their child for their first dental visit.
Methods: Several modes of education presented information to mothers: (1) written literature provided by a nurse; (2) a nurse verbally presenting and providing literature; (3) a resident verbally presenting and providing literature; and (4) control-no education. The chi-square test of homogeneity was utilized to determine if there was a difference in compliance to make an age one dental appointment.
Results: The retained sample consisted of 277 children evaluated between 2014 and 2018. There was no statistical difference between the educational methods regarding compliance to make an age one dental visit (P >0.05). There was a significant difference between marital status (P =0.0005), with 95 percent of single mothers likely to schedule the visit.
Conclusion: No particular maternal educational method resulted in greater compliance with scheduling an age one dental visit. Single mothers were more likely to schedule the visit. The primary reason for not visiting was a lack of primary care provider recommendations.