Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if motivational interviewing with written/illustrated infant oral health education provided to caregivers of pediatric dental patients increases caregivers’ oral health literacy compared to verbal only motivational instruction. Methods: This is a cohort study of caregivers and their child receiving oral health anticipatory guidance utilizing motivational interviewing with and without visual aids. Caregivers (N=20) of pediatric dental patients age 0-4 that presented to the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry for a new patient exam were recruited for the study. Caregivers were randomly assigned into 2 groups: the intervention group (IG), and the control group (CG). Each caregiver took a pre-test to determine their infant oral health literacy. Then the IG received infant oral health education using a flipbook, and the CG received the same information in verbal form. Each caregiver had a brief motivational interviewing session. The caregivers then took the same test (post-test). At the pre-test time period, groups were compared by Fisher’s exact test or a two group t-test, as appropriate. The post-test score of the two groups were compared using an ANCOVA. Results: Currently, 20 patients have been enrolled in the study. There was no significant difference between the CG and the IG in the pre-test scores (P= 0.3913) or the post-test scores (P=0.3022). The intervention group had a nominally higher score after the education. Conclusions: This study was only a pilot study with N=20 caregivers. This study may be used to estimate the number of subjects needed to demonstrate a significant difference.

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of dental services for young children following a preventive oral health intervention in a pediatric medical clinic. Over a 3 year period (2005-2008), children 0-36 months of age, enrolled in Medicaid, were provided preventive oral health services in a medical setting. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression were used to determine the effect receiving the preventive oral health services in a medical setting with the outcomes of dental utilization. 15% were determined to have dental caries at the intervention and 42% found to have a dental visit post-intervention. Children determined to have decay at the intervention were significantly more likely to have one or more restorative or adjunctive service post-intervention. After receiving preventive oral health care in a medical clinic, the resulting utilization of dental services was higher than what is commonly reported for dental utilization in infant populations of low-income children.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine infant oral health knowledge and readiness of expectant mothers to incorporate preventive oral health behaviors for their infants. Methods: The study used a prospective cohort design to examine the effect of prenatal education and motivational counseling with expectant mothers about infant oral health care readiness. Participants were all enrolled in a prenatal care program called Centering Pregnancy offered by VCU’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. They all completed a pre-survey questionnaire, followed by a motivational counseling intervention, and then completed a post-survey questionnaire. Results: A sample of 30 pregnant women completed the pre- and post-survey. The participants were predominantly white (60%) who had finished college (67%) with an average age of 28.8 years. Based on the analysis of the readiness (RAPIDD scale) responses, the participants showed an improvement in their value for dental health with a p-value illustrating a significant overall change between the pre and post surveys (p < .02). The results for the knowledge portion of the survey demonstrated an increase in their infant oral health education, showing a significant change across time (p < .0001). The results to the last portion of the pre and post survey illustrated that the participants learned at what age to establish a dental home for their infant. Conclusion: This study has shown that with the proper educational tools parents are able to accept and improve their knowledge related to infant oral health and the prevention of early childhood caries.

THE EFFECTS OF MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING IN PREGNANCY ON KNOWLEDGE AND RETENTION OF INFANT ORAL HEALTH INFORMATION By Andrew D. Zima, Jr., B.S., M.S., D.D.S. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010 Major Director: Tegwyn H. Brickhouse, D.D.S., Ph.D Associate Professor, Department of Pediatric Dentistry Purpose: The purpose was to examine the effect of motivational counseling in pregnancy with readiness and acceptance of infant oral health information. Methods: The study used a prospective cohort design to examine the effect of prenatal education and motivational counseling with expectant mothers about infant oral health care readiness. Participants were all enrolled in a prenatal care program called Centering Pregnancy offered by VCU’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. They all completed a pre-survey questionnaire, followed by a motivational counseling intervention, and then completed a post-survey questionnaire. A third survey was sent out 1 year post-partum. The participants were evaluated for their willingness to accept v vi information, their knowledge about infant oral health, and the retention and implementation of infant oral health information. Results: A sample of 87 pregnant women completed the pre- and post-survey and 11 of these participants completed and mailed back the 1 year post-partum survey. Based on the analysis of the readiness (RAPIDD scale) responses, the participants showed statistically significant overall improvements in their pre versus post survey openness to health information (p < .0039) and value for dental health (p < .001). The results for the knowledge portion of the survey demonstrated an increase in their infant oral health education, showing a significant change across time (p < .0001) from the pre survey to both the post and 1 year post partum surveys. The results to the last portion of the pre, post, and 1 year survey illustrated that the participants learned at what age to establish a dental home for their infant. Conclusion: This study has shown that with the proper educational tools parents are able to accept and improve their knowledge related to infant oral health and the prevention of early childhood caries. Data suggests that parents are implementing routine home infant oral health measures, but fewer have established a dental home by age 1.

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