Infant Oral Health Examinations – Pediatric Dentists' Attitudes and Behaviors

According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), a dental home should be established for a child during the six months following the eruption of a first tooth.

Objectives: The objectives were to explore pediatric dentists' (a) professional behavior concerning this AAPD policy, and (b) their attitudes towards conducting infant oral health examinations (IOHE).

Methods: Questionnaires were mailed to all 4,435 active members of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. A total of 2,157 surveys were returned (response rate: 48.64%). The majority of the dentists were male (66.5%) and practiced in solo practices (44.6%) in middle or small urban settings (47.6%). They were on average 46.56 years old (SD=11.770). The respondents self administered the survey and returned it anonymously.

Results: A total of 83.58% of the respondents agreed with the AAPD policy and 83.8% performed infant oral health examinations (IOHE). They spent on average 22.77 minutes on an IOHE (maximum=60 minutes). While the majority of the respondents reported that they engage in oral hygiene education (85.7%) and perform soft and hard tissue exams (81.4% / 75.3%), relatively fewer practitioners assess family dynamics (32.5%), take a dental history of the parents (51.9%), or talk with the parents about injury prevention (53.1%). Responses to attitude statements showed that the pediatric dentists had on average rather positive attitudes concerning IOHE, and that these attitudes were significantly correlated with the number of IOHE they conducted.

Conclusions: The majority of pediatric dentists in the US performs IOHE and holds rather positive attitudes towards these exams. However, pediatric dentists differ in the amount of time they schedule to perform these exams, in the types of issues they address during the exams, and in the degree to which they involve their staff members in these activities.