Dental caries awareness among the parents of school going children in Bareilly city: A Cross-sectional Survey

Dental caries is one of the most common infectious diseases of childhood all over the world and considered as oral health burden. The purpose of the study was to assess the awareness of parents about dental caries among the school going children in Bareilly city. An investigation was carried out among 200 parents in 15 different medium schools in Bareilly city. Results showed that parents’ initiation is low when dental health care of children is concerned. 54% parents (p=0.001) knows that sweetened food causes dental caries, 43.2% (p=0.001) parents give information that their child are taking sweetened food regularly, 28.45% parents reported that their child did not brush a single time in a day, 62.6% (p=0.000) knows that soft drinks may cause dental caries, 42.55% (p=0.002) parents give information that their child are taking fast foods or snacks regularly, 49.50 % (p=0.004) reported that have never visited a dentist. This study concluded that dental health care team can make awareness program more effective and can also make parents more aware about dental caries prevention.