Hasheemah Afaneh, Madhav Kc, Alexandra Lieberman, Ashley Fenton, Sydney Santa Ana, Lisa Staples, J Michael Conner, Edward Peters
Rural-urban disparities in the distribution of dental caries among children in south-eastern Louisiana: a cross-sectional study
Rural and remote health
evaluate effectiveness educational messages aid control early childhood caries ecc low socioeconomic children singleblinded randomized parallelgroup study conducted 104 dyads parents children aged 3660 months recruited preschools bauru brazil participants randomly allocated control intervention groups 11 stratified parental ehealth literacy scores eheals childrens caries experience every 2 weeks text messages sent parents intervention group via whatsapp visible plaque index vpi international caries detection assessment system icdas assessed baseline 3 6month followups eheals dietary habits determined baseline 6month followup statistical analysis performed intra intergroup comparisons fischers exact mcnemar tests mannwhitney u friedman tests respectively p 005 despite similarities groups intervention increased parental eheals scores influencing reports childrens consumption sugarfree sweets controlling severity ecc therefore mobile text messages effective control severity ecc low socioeconomic preschoolers improving parental ehealth literacy changing childrens dietary patterns findings demonstrate parentaloriented whatsapp messages contribute oral health education socioeconomic vulnerable parents towards risk behavior changes control ecc