| JNDA Vol. 20 No. 2 Issue 31 (July - December 2020) | |
Parents’ Beliefs and Practices on Teething |
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| Dr. Megha Pradhan, Dr. Ujjwal Joshi, Dr. Smriti Mathema, Dr. Astha Neupane, Dr. Rojina Singh Thakuri, Dr. Sijan Poudyal, Dr. Rajib Chaulagain | |
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| Abstract | |
Introduction: Teething is a physiological phenomenon, which includes eruption of teeth in the oral cavity from within its intraosseous position in the jaws. Many symptoms of teething have been reported such as fever, diarrhoea, dermatitis, constipation, restlessness, increased finger sucking drooling of saliva, gum irritation, and decreased appetite. Objective: The objective of study was to assess the beliefs of parents coming to Kathmandu Medical College and Teaching Hospital during the teething of their children and practices undertaken to relieve those symptoms. Material and Method:A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 140 parents visiting a tertiary care hospital in Kathmandu from July to September 2020. Convenience sampling was used to recruit the participants and informed consent was obtained before data collection. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed and eventually the data was analysed with descriptive statistics. Result: The commonest problems perceived to be associated with teething were loose stool (81, 57.86%), fever (62, 44.29%), and undue crying (50, 35.71%). Most of the parents (48, 34.29%) would prefer to give teether to their child during teething followed by paracetamol (18, 12.86%), and refrigerated food (17, 12.14%). Conclusion: Parents’ attribution of systemic symptoms to teething shows their misconception, emphasising the need for educational interventions and infant oral health promotion by the concerned medical and dental health professionals.
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| Keywords | |
Belief; practice; sign; symptom; teething. |
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