Caregiver Oral Health Literacy, Pediatric Oral Health: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Abstract Objectives The primary aim is to determine whether there is an association between caregiver oral health literacy and the oral health status of children. Methods All bibliographic databases with salient information on the proposed question were evaluated and included biomedical research literature (MEDLINE via PubMed and Embase), allied health, nursing and dental literature (CINAHL Complete), and social sciences/scientific literature (SCOPUS). We have also undertaken a grey literature search to be screened for additional articles or abstracts. The subject terms and keywords assessed for the main concept domains included: oral health literacy, oral health, parents or caregivers, and children. A comprehensive list of search terms was iteratively developed by the team, and peer reviewed by a second librarian. After removing duplicate works, 4,705 studies were screened at the title and abstract level by at least two independent reviewers. Five hundred twenty-six studies were identified for the full text screening. Preliminarily, at least two independent team members completed 40 full text reviews, with 15 articles meeting the specified inclusion criteria. Preliminary Results For articles that were excluded within the full text review, the most common reason articles were excluded is that they did not specifically address both caregiver oral health literacy and children oral health status together. Of the full text articles meeting the established inclusion criteria (37.5%), the majority indicate a connection between caregiver oral health literacy and the oral health status of children. Preliminary Conclusions Based on the articles reviewed thus far, there appears to be a positive association between caregiver oral health literacy and children oral health status across diverse countries and cultures.