Parents' awareness and attitude towards the use of non-invasive dental treatment methods on children

Dental caries remains a worldwide problem. The prevalence of caries in Latvia is higher than the European average (Maldupa et al., 2020). New approaches are being sought to combat caries, and a non-invasive approach is one of them. To successfully integrate this new approach into the daily life of dentistry, its application must start in early childhood, which is the responsibility of parents. Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate parents' awareness and attitudes about the use of various non-invasive methods on children. Fifty two parents of 2-6 years old children were interviewed with a 24-item self-constructed questionnaire. Respondents’ awareness and attitude towards three non-invasive methods of caries treatment (fluoride varnish, sealants and silver diamine fluoride solution (SDF)) was investigated. Data analysis was performed with Microsoft Excel. No comparative analysis of parents’ attitude was possible because of low awareness of respondents. Despite the fact that parents themselves felt well informed about non-invasive treatment, the actual knowledge about methods included in the study was extremely low. Most of the respondents (75%) admitted that their children had no experience with any of these preventive methods. The lowest awareness was related to SDF (5,7%), followed by fluoride varnish (9,6%), while parents were relatively better informed about fissure sealants (17,3%). In adverse, 63% of the respondents’ children have had experience with the invasive treatment. Despite the lack of information, most parents would be willing to use these scientifically approved methods to treat their child's caries, except when SDF would be applied to anterior teeth due to dark discoloration of the teeth. Parental awareness of non-invasive caries treatment methods was very low, and invasive methods are still highly valued. However, the reliable source of parental information affected the level of parental awareness. Therefore, professionals should educate the parents about alternative caries treatment options.