Impact of Background Noise and Educational Methods on Parents' Oral Health Awareness

This study aimed to examine the effects of different environments in which information is given to increase parents' awareness of oral health.

This work was conducted on nonrandomized parents of 192 children aged 6 to 12 years who visited the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at Baskent University between April and September 2024. A pretest was performed to measure demographic data (age and gender of volunteer child and parent, education level of parent, and socioeconomic status) and to assess oral health information. The first group received verbal education in a quiet environment isolated from the clinic; the second group received verbal education in a crowded clinic environment; and the third group received video-assisted education in a quiet environment. Then, a posttest was administered to all groups.

All evaluated groups showed a statistically significant increase in their posttest scores (P = 0.001). In pairwise comparisons, the mean correct answer scores in the posttest applied after education in background noise and crowded environment were statistically significantly lower than those in the quiet environment (P = 0.029).

Oral health education led to an increase in parental awareness, as measured by the pre- and posttest scores assessing knowledge on oral hygiene, preventive care, and general dental practices, regardless of whether it was delivered in a quiet or noisy clinical environment, or through a video-assisted presentation. However, the effectiveness of the education, as indicated by the increase in scores, was comparable between the quiet environment and video-assisted groups.