Knowledge, Attitude, And Practices Of Parents Regarding Kid’s Dentifrices In Sullia City, Karnataka, India-A Questionnaire Study

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the Knowledge, attitude, and practices of parents regarding kid’s dentifrices in Sullia city, Dakshina Kannada.
A total of 152 questionnaires both in English and the local language (Kannada) were distributed randomly to parents of children aged 4-
7yrs of age on parent-teacher day meet at the schools across Sullia city. Responded questionnaires were collected on the same day and
responses obtained were tabulated and were expressed as frequency distribution and computed in percentages. Parents (57%) lacked
knowledge of differences between adult & kids dentifrices, 53.1% did not prefer the use of kids dentifrices and 71% of the them used
same adult dentifrices for their children; 46.9% preferred kids dentifrices in that 75.6% of them often changed the dentifrices. 73.6% of
the parents dispensed the dentifrices for their children, but 62.5% of the parents were not aware of the exact amount of dentifrices to be
used and 71.1% of parents used dentifrices half or full length of the toothbrush head. 86.1% of parents supervised the child’s brushing
and 86.9% raised concern that the child would swallow dentifrices. Brushing time reported was more than 5 minutes in 42.5%, 3-5 min
in 38.3%, and less than 3 minutes in 19.2%. Parents used adult toothpaste for children and did not prefer kid’s dentifrice as knowledge
regarding the differences between adult and kid’s dentifrices was less. Parents were not aware of the exact amount of dentifrice to be
used according to age; they supervised the child’s brushing but were concerned about dentifrice swallowing.