Teething Beliefs and Traditional Practices towards Infant Teething Symptoms among Caretakers in Abha City, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To investigate symptoms that are associated with teething as reported by caretakers and the related measures undertaken to relieve it. To study the relationship between caretaker, child-related factors and the reported teething symptoms. To correlate reported teething symptoms with clinical findings during the teething period. Materials and methods: The current study was a cross-sectional survey conducted among Saudi caretakers of children aged 6-36 months of age, following the survey, each child was clinically examined as well. The following survey was carried out at Mahala Maternal and child health Hospital, Abha city. A convenience sampling method was adopted for collecting the data. A total of 300 caretakers along with their children were approached who agreed to be part of the study. All the caretakers were asked to fill a structured-questionnaire, the questionnaire was asked to be completed using a face-to-face interview along with children’s guardians and it was further followed by the clinical examination of the child. Conclusion: The present study showed that most caretakers reported their children to suffer from both local oral disturbances (gum rubbing 41% followed by redness and swelling 20%) and systemic manifestations (increased biting, drooling, fever, diarrhoea, and loss of appetite) during their teething period.