Parents' Knowledge, Attitudes &Awareness Toward Pediatric Dentistry

Primary teeth are the valuable assets of a child. In children, milk teeth/primary teeth play a vital role for eating, phonetics and esthetics. Primary teeth are also essential in the development of the mouth. They maintain the arch length within the jaw and provide guides for the eruption pathway of the permanent teeth.

Problems in primary teeth in the form of pain and swelling can cause distress to the child, leading to inability to chew or speak properly and even may affect the appearance of a child. Premature loss of primary teeth can cause an earlier eruption of permanent successors and interfere with the harmony of adult dentition resulting in crowding caused by shifting and or drifting of the teeth toward the extraction space. Moreover, psychological, morphological and functional problems may result from premature loss of primary teeth.

Most parents are unaware of the role a pediatric dentist plays in their child's life, and the importance of dental visits at an early age is underestimated as most believe that the milk teeth are going to exfoliate and it not worth paying much attention to. Even if a parent is recommended to take the child to a pediatric dentist, many may not consider doing the same since awareness of importance of primary teeth is less.