Parental perspectives on early childhood caries: A qualitative study

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) affects about 621 million children worldwide, causing chronic pain, infections, sleeping disorders, and tooth extraction. Aim: To determine perspectives of parents and caregivers of preschoolers regarding ECC. Design: Three focus groups were conducted with attendees of the Clinics of Paediatric Dentistry from the Bauru School of Dentistry. The meetings were video- and audio-recorded, and the contents were transcribed verbatim. Then, textual passages were examined and coded using the software NVivo 12 Plus. Results: The participants associated the presence of dental caries lesions with negative consequences for children, such as problems for permanent dentition, discrimination, and psychological damages. Although regular oral hygiene and healthy diet were recognized as important factors for the prevention of ECC, specific doubts about feeding, toothpaste usage, oral hygiene, and dental eruption were detected among parents. Additionally, they declared that their children brush teeth alone, intake fermentable carbohydrates frequently, and sleep during breastfeeding without dental plaque removal, because uncooperativeness, permissiveness, and convenience. Conclusions: Based on these results, parents and caregivers understand the unfavourable effects of ECC on children's quality of life; however, their attitudes against the disease seemed to be inaccurate, influenced by their daily routines, doubts, and beliefs.