Early Childhood Oral Health

The study will be conducted in a Pediatric clinic at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in San Jose, California. PAMF is a not-for-profit health care organization, that serves a diverse population in the bay area. Each pediatric clinic has 5 doctors and 1 nurse practitioner. A sample of 100 subjects, comprising of parents of infants 6 months to 1 year will be selected for the study. The sample includes subjects from both genders irrespective of the ethnic background. Inclusion criteria for the study will be a) parents of children 6 months to 1 year of age; b) parents must be English speaking; c) children without any acute or chronic condition or craniofacial abnormality requiring special diet and dental care other than for a normal 6 months …show more content…
The questionnaire contains items to collect information regarding demographics, socioeconomic status, feeding habits, diet, oral hygiene, and dental health practices. The ECOH was tested for validity and reliability in a similar study (Mohebbi, Virtanen, Vahid-Golpayegani, & Vehkalahti, 2011). During the next well-child visit, children in both intervention and control group will receive a standard oral health care. The standard oral health care consists of a brief oral history, oral examination, fluoride application, and anticipatory guidance. According to Milgrom, Zero, & Tanzer (2012), Fluoride varnishes have been proved to be safe, easy to use and effective for infants and toddlers. In addition to the standard oral care, all children in the intervention group will receive two additional enhanced oral health promotion visits. The enhanced oral health visit comprises of medical history, comprehensive oral health history and dental caries risk assessment, and a detailed oral examination. Moreover, an elaborate oral health education focusing on the common risk factors noted to augment the likelihood of caries formation will be