Factors Influencing Parental Dental Anxiety and Dental Caries Experience among 3-5-Year-Old Children Attending Three Public Paediatric Dental Clinics in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Objective: To determine the relationship between parental anxieties associated with past dental experiences and children's caries experience in 3-5-year-olds.

Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

Setting: The study was conducted within the urban Nairobi city in Kenya at the School of Dental Sciences-University of Nairobi Dental Hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital (K.N.H) -Dental Clinic, and the Lady Northey Children's Clinic

Subjects: The study population was purposively sampled and involved 330 children aged 3-5 years and the accompanying parents/guardians. Parental anxiety was measured using the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale, and dental caries was measured using the dmft index.

Results: Prevalence of high anxiety was 3.9%;  among those with high anxiety 12 (92.3%) were mothers,  1(7.7%) were fathers, however, none of the guardians had any high anxiety. High dental anxiety was found among those in the <30 year-age group 6 (5%). Also, parents in formal employment 5(7.2%) and with tertiary education 5 (10.2%) also had high dental anxiety. There was no relationship between parental concern and previous clinical experience (p=0.40). Similarly, no association between parental/guardian anxiety and history of previously visiting a dentist or not was obtained (p=0.09). However, parents/guardians were accurately able to rate their anxiety correctly (p=0.00).

Prevalence of dental caries was 93.6% while the caries experience as mean dmft was 8.14. The untreated component of decay was high with a decay component of  7.27, the mean missing component was 0.80, and the mean filled part of 0.06. The decrease in caries experience was found to increase with age, and this was statistically significant (p=0.01). The association between parental anxiety and the children's caries experience was not significant  (p=0.42). The caregiver's past negative or positive experiences did not influence the severity and prevalence of the children in all the age groups.

Conclusion: There was a low prevalence of high anxiety 3.9% associated with past dental experiences. However, high anxiety was observed in mothers, the younger parents, those with higher education as well as those in the formal employment. There was a high dmft score of the children of 8.14 with the decay (d) component contributing a higher proportion of 7.27, and the decay was highest in the younger age group of three years. However, there was no relationship between dental caries experience and the parental dental anxiety. Nor was there any relationship between the past positive or negative experiences of the caregivers and children's dental caries experience.