Parents’ Roles in Caring for Dental Caries among Preschool Children

Abstract

Dental caries is a major problem of oral health among preschool children. Dental caries leads to several problems, including pain, ineffective chewing food, less eating, and these problems may result in malnutrition. Not only does dental caries impact the child’s growth, but it also results in the development of the muscles of face and oral cavity as well as the jawbone’s growth. Consequently, children may have abnormal pronunciation, lose confidence, premature teeth loss, and abnormal permanent teeth eruption. Dental caries frequently occurs in preschool children because they have minimal capacities in self-care and inattention to care oral health. Therefore, parents who are important to help the reduction of dental caries among preschool children. Previous studies reported that parents’ factors affecting oral health among preschool children included appropriate knowledge, understanding, and behavior. Therefore, providing knowledge and understanding of parents in caring for oral health among preschool children is important. This should early begin in childhood in order to have a good dental health when they grow up to adulthood.