Parental attitudes regarding pediatric dentists' counseling on tobacco use: a survey of five private practices.

PURPOSE: To evaluate parental acceptance of provision of tobacco cessation and prevention education to children and parents by private practice pediatric dentists. METHODS: Receptionists gave confidential questionnaires to parents of child dental patients in five private pediatric dentistry practices. Demographic information and questions about dentist interventions were asked, with the most intrusive questions concerning parental tobacco use. RESULTS: Ninety-four percent (234) of parents responded. Over 90 percent of parents favored dentists speaking to 1) the child on the dangers of tobacco use and the benefits of avoiding tobacco, 2) parents about the effects of tobacco use on their children, and 3) parents about cessation. Among tobacco-using parents, 76 percent favored interventions directed at child tobacco use and warnings about adult smoking and children, dropping to 59 percent favoring dentist provisions of cessation education to parents. Users were less approving than nonusers on both parental interventions (P=.001). CONCLUSIONS: Parents showed high acceptance of various levels of tobacco interventions by pediatric dentists in private practice. Tobacco users, however, were less accepting than nonusers. Pediatric dentists may be more willing to provide such messages with this information, but they may also need training to prepare themselves to handle negative reactions.

A review of pediatric dentistry program websites: what are applicants learning about our programs?

The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to examine website content provided by U.S. and Canadian pediatric dentistry residency programs, and 2) to understand aspects of program websites that dental students report to be related to their interests. Sixty-eight program websites were reviewed by five interprofessional evaluators. A thirty-six-item evaluation form was organized into 1) program descriptive items listed on the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) website (n=21); 2) additional program descriptive items not listed on the AAPD website but of interest (n=9); and 3) items related to website interface design (n=5). We also surveyed fifty-four dental students regarding their interest in various aspects of program descriptions. The results of this study suggest that pediatric dentistry residency programs in general tend to provide identical or less information than what is listed on the AAPD website. The majority of respondents (76 percent) reported that residency program websites would be their first source of information about advanced programs. The greatest gap between the available website information and students' interests exists in these areas: stipend and tuition information, state licensure, and program strengths. Pediatric dentistry residency programs underutilize websites as a marketing and recruitment tool and should incorporate more information in areas of students' priority interests.

Body mass index of children with severe early childhood caries.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this retrospective case study was to describe the body mass index (BMI) of children with severe early childhood caries (5-ECC) receiving dental rehabilitation under general anesthesia. METHODS: Demographics, BMI percentile, decoyed, missing, or filled teeth (dmft), and the number of pulp-involved teeth were analyzed for 293 healthy 2- to 5-year-olds (mean = 47.2 months). Weight groups were assigned using current Centers for Disease Control (CDC) BMI-for-age and gender definitions. Descriptive statistics were calculated and multivariate analysis used to evaluate BMI's association with oral health measures. BMI distribution of the subjects was compared graphically and with the use of confidence intervals to a reference population with similar demographics. RESULTS: The distribution of subjects' BMI percentiles was: underweight=11l%; normal weight=67%; at risk for overweight=9%; and overweight=11%. The mean dmft was 11.8; BMI percentile did not correlate with dmft or the number of pulp-involved teeth. Significantly, more children in the sample were underweight than in the reference population (11% vs. 5%). CONCLUSION: In this sample of S-ECC children, the BMI percentile was not correlated with dmft or the number of pulp-involved teeth, even After adjusting for confounding factors. Thirty-two percent had unhealthy weights, as currently defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.