Mobile messaging may help control severity of early childhood caries: Study
According to recent research, investigators have observed that parental-oriented mobile text messages were effective to control the severity of early childhood caries in low socioeconomic preschoolers, improving parental eHealth literacy and changing children's dietary habits.
The study is published in the Journal of Dentistry.
The prevalence of early childhood caries is higher among low socioeconomic populations, due to several aspects, such as negative health beliefs, external locus of control, and limited levels of self-efficacy, oral health knowledge, and health literacy, which hamper the adherence and engagement of parents with strategies focused on behavior changes. The influence of these drawbacks on oral health outcomes may be overcome by parental education, in a context of family- and child-centered care. Thus, personal approaches as motivational interviews, home visits, and telephone contacts have proven effective in the management of the disease.
However, barriers found in developing countries, such as low income, limited health infrastructure and high costs of services prevent the access of families and children to health education.
Hence, Matheus Lotto and colleagues from the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Orthodontics and Public Health, Bauru School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, Brazil carried out this study to evaluate the effectiveness of educational messages as aid in the control of early childhood caries (ECC) in low socioeconomic children.
A single-blinded, randomized, and parallel-group study was conducted with 104 dyads of parents and children aged between 36–60 months. The participants were randomly allocated into control and intervention groups (1:1), stratified by parental eHealth literacy scores (eHEALS) and children's caries experience. Every 2 weeks, text messages were sent to parents of the intervention group via WhatsApp. Visible plaque index (VPI) and the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) were assessed at baseline, 3- and 6-month follow-ups, while eHEALS and dietary habits were determined at baseline and 6-month follow-up.
The authors noted that despite similarities between groups, the intervention increased parental eHEALS scores, influencing the reports about the children's consumption of sugar-free sweets and controlling the severity of ECC.
Hence, they concluded that "mobile text messages were effective to control the severity of ECC in low socioeconomic preschoolers, improving parental eHealth literacy and changing children's dietary patterns."
"These findings demonstrate that parental-oriented WhatsApp messages can contribute to oral health education of socioeconomic vulnerable parents towards risk behavior changes to control ECC", they further added.
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