Socio‐behavioural determinants associated with the first dental visit in Saudi children: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine the age at which Saudi children had their first dental visit (FDV) and the socio‐behavioural predictors associated with these visits in Al Jouf Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.MethodsThis cross‐sectional study used a multistage stratified random sampling technique to invite 566 parents/guardians of schoolchildren aged 12 years or younger. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify socio‐behavioural variables that predict children's FDV. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsMost FDVs in children occurred between the ages of 6 and 10 years. More than half of the participants stated that FDVs occurred primarily because of dental pain. Furthermore, educated mothers reported a higher frequency of dental visits for their children. Children with a low family income were 63% (95% confidence interval 0.16–0.83; P = 0.015) less likely to visit a dentist between the ages of 1 and 5 years.ConclusionFDVs in children in Al Jouf Province typically occurred between the ages of 6 and 10 years, with dental pain being the main reason. Parents’ or caregiver's relationships with children, parental age, and familial income were identified as predictors of the FDV.

Characteristics and influencing factors of the first dental visit among children in Bangkok, Thailand: a cross-sectional study

“…Considering the socio-demographic factors that influence the proper age for FDV, it was found that parental age was a strong predictor, as a tendency toward late FDV was detected in parents with older ages, which was supported by the previous study [ 21 ]. Children who did not have siblings tended to have FDV at earlier ages compared to children with siblings.…”