A Orlando^1,2, MW Arisido³, S Brioschi¹, L Maccà¹, S Graci¹, MC Panzeri¹, F Mecatti³, P Palestini^1,2 and E Cazzaniga^1,2*

¹School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano, Bicocca, Italy
²Bicocca Center of Science and Technology for FOOD, University of Milano, Bicocca, Italy
³Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano, Bicocca, Italy

*Corresponding Author: E Cazzaniga, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano, Bicocca, Italy.

Received: April 26, 2021; Published: May 20, 2021

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate if a parents’ training program on nutritional and oral health behaviours held by health professionals can influence children habits in a sample of kindergartens in Northern Italy.

Methods: The study designed was a longitudinal study. The study population were children aged 6–36 months attending four kindergartens. Parents were invited to participate to a training meeting and to fill out a self-administered questionnaire at baseline and after 3 months from the meeting. The questionnaire included information on socio-demographics about parents, oral hygiene habits of parents and child, and eating habits of child. Wald test was used to analyse data collected.

Results: After the training program, almost all parents could use a toothbrush suitable for kids (from 91% at the baseline to 99% after the 3-months). The analysis shows that the given training significantly increased the number of children who use toothpaste from 86% at baseline (95%CI: 85% - 88%) to 96% (95%CI: 94%-98%), in particular a fluoride toothpaste (59% to 80%). The intervention study showed a positive impact on the number of pupils who wash their tooth more than twice per week and on the timing of oral hygiene as both night and morning time proportion increased. Regarding the feeding habits the given consultation resulted in a statistically significant increase the morning snack from 94% (95%CI: 92% - 96%) to 97% (95%CI: 94% - 99%). Another promising effect is the decrease from 47% at baseline (95%CI: 46% - 49%) to 42% after the study (95%CI: 41% - 43%) of the bad habit of having a snack after dinner.

Conclusion: Results of our study have shown that a parents training intervention can have good results on the oral hygiene and eating habits of children of this age group. To underline the importance of several professional figures who work together with a common purpose.

Keywords:Children; Oral Health; Dental Caries; Educational Programme; Nutrition; Prevention

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Citation

Citation: E Cazzaniga., et al. “An Interdisciplinary Oral Health Program for Children in Kindergartens of Northern Italy".Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 5.6 (2021): 36-42.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 E Cazzaniga., et al. . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.