Journal of Advanced Clinical & Research Insights (2014), 1, 89–93 Journal of Advanced Clinical & Research Insights ● Vol. 1:3 ● Nov-Dec 2014 89 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Pediatricians’ knowledge and views on promoting oral health: A survey Prachi Sijeria, Nanjunda Swamy, Sadanand Kulkarni, Shikha Choubey Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India Abstract Background: To determine pediatricians’ knowledge and views on promoting oral health of their patients. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted among the pediatricians in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. The study was cross sectional in design. 204 pediatricians were approached for the study out of which 114 participated in the study, and the data was collected using an objective questionnaire without any oral health information. Result: The present study shows that pediatricians had poor to moderate knowledge and awareness regarding oral health issues, but they believed that they have an important role and were already participating in promoting oral health. Conclusion: Pediatricians were aware that assessment of oral health and counseling about prevention of oral disease should be included as an integral part of child care, but their knowledge on oral health issues need to be updated. Keywords Awareness, oral health, pediatrician Correspondence Dr. Prachi Sijeria, Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Sri Aurobindo College of Dentistry, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. Mobile: +91-9755105478, Email: prachisijeria@gmail. com Received 02 September 2014; Accepted 08 November 2014 doi: 10.15713/ins.jcri.23 Introduction Good oral and dental health is important parts of overall health of children. The youngest of the pediatric patient population visit the pediatrician more than a dentist. Thus, pediatricians are considered to be in a unique position to provide preventive oral information and to diagnose oral diseases in their patients early on, because of the early age at which children are brought to their offices. [1] Studies have revealed that number of children (infants and 1-year-old) seen by pediatricians is around 89% as compared to only 1.5% who had dental visits annually. Consequently, ratio of visits to physicians versus visits to dentists is around 250:1. [2] Data also reported that the prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) is around 36-85% worldwide [3-7] while in India it is 44%. [8] In 1975, mothers hospitalized for 1 week after delivery of their babies were instructed and motivated (for about 60 min) by dental hygienists about oral and dental care of their child. 5 years later in an epidemiological survey, the children of these motivated mothers were compared to normal children of the community. The children of the motivated mothers showed 64% less approximal caries on radiographs than the other children. [9] The most important factor affecting preventive dentistry performance is the knowledge and function of physicians concerning the issue. [10] Hence, the present study was undertaken with the objective to assess the knowledge and opinion of Pediatricians in promoting oral health in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods A survey was undertaken among the pediatricians in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. The list of pediatricians was obtained from Indian Academy of Pediatrics Indore Branch. There were 204 registered pediatricians out of this 30 were not actively practicing, and 60 did not respond to the questionnaire, finally 114 pediatricians were participated in this study. The selected pediatricians were grouped into four categories based on their clinical experience (<5 years, 5-10 years, 11-20 years and more than 20 years). The selected participants were requested to fill out an objective questionnaire [Appendix 1] without providing any oral health information. Questionnaire was derived from earlier studies, and some modifications had been made. [11,12] Knowledge and opinion based questions in prevention of dental caries and promotion of oral health were categorized. The collected data were statistically analyzed with the Chi-square test. A P ≤ 0.05 was considered to be significant.