Authors :
Dr. Christa Jose; Dr. Nusrath Fareed; Dr. Anjali N; Dr. Arya Raj S; Dr. Asmin P K; Dr. Bharath Sekhar Nayanar
Volume/Issue :
Volume 8 - 2023, Issue 10 - October
Google Scholar :
https://tinyurl.com/29rnwc78
Scribd :
https://tinyurl.com/y9tjw37u
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10043976
Abstract :
Context
COVID 19 is a highly contagious viral disease.
Dental office has garnered a lot of attention as one of the
potential sources of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and
dissemination. Due to this, the frequency of dental visits
among children and their parents have reduced
substantially.Aims
To assess maternal practices towards dental
treatment of primary school children after the
emergence of COVID 19.Settings and Design
A school based cross sectional electronic survey,
conducted in various schools in Chalakudy town in
Kerala.Methods and Material
The study was conducted among mothers of
primary school children, with a sample size of 709. The
data were collected using a validated questionnaire
comprised of four parts, part A recorded basic
demography, part B mothers’ knowledge, part C
attitude and part D recorded practices towards dental
care and impact covid 19 on dental care.Statistical Analysis
Data were analysed using the SPSS version 21.
Descriptive measures and chi-square test was conducted
separately for each variable. P value was set at < 0.05
level of significance.Results
The findings showed that overall knowledge,
attitude and practice (KAP) scores of the mothers
revealed 81.3% had good KAP score. Among them
95.5% had adequate knowledge while 93.1% had
positive attitude whereas a mere 40.7% was translated
into practice.Conclusions
Knowledge of mothers towards dental treatment of
primary school children after the emergence of COVID
19 was adequate but the attitude and the practices were
not and this probably due to the fear. Expecting similar
pandemics in future, standard operating procedure
(SOP) which would ensure absolute infection control in a
dental clinic and spreading awareness of such SOP’samong parents can reduce their apprehensions to get dental treatments for their kids.
Keywords :
COVID 19, Primary School Children, Dental Treatment.
Context
COVID 19 is a highly contagious viral disease.
Dental office has garnered a lot of attention as one of the
potential sources of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and
dissemination. Due to this, the frequency of dental visits
among children and their parents have reduced
substantially.Aims
To assess maternal practices towards dental
treatment of primary school children after the
emergence of COVID 19.Settings and Design
A school based cross sectional electronic survey,
conducted in various schools in Chalakudy town in
Kerala.Methods and Material
The study was conducted among mothers of
primary school children, with a sample size of 709. The
data were collected using a validated questionnaire
comprised of four parts, part A recorded basic
demography, part B mothers’ knowledge, part C
attitude and part D recorded practices towards dental
care and impact covid 19 on dental care.Statistical Analysis
Data were analysed using the SPSS version 21.
Descriptive measures and chi-square test was conducted
separately for each variable. P value was set at < 0.05
level of significance.Results
The findings showed that overall knowledge,
attitude and practice (KAP) scores of the mothers
revealed 81.3% had good KAP score. Among them
95.5% had adequate knowledge while 93.1% had
positive attitude whereas a mere 40.7% was translated
into practice.Conclusions
Knowledge of mothers towards dental treatment of
primary school children after the emergence of COVID
19 was adequate but the attitude and the practices were
not and this probably due to the fear. Expecting similar
pandemics in future, standard operating procedure
(SOP) which would ensure absolute infection control in a
dental clinic and spreading awareness of such SOP’samong parents can reduce their apprehensions to get dental treatments for their kids.
Keywords :
COVID 19, Primary School Children, Dental Treatment.
