Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is a multi-factorial bacterial disease of small children and is very common and debilitating. These factors are the presence of cariogenic microorganisms, fermentable carbohydrates in the diet, susceptible tooth and host, and time. The mother is the source of the infection as well as in control of the diet. The bacterial infection is necessary but not sufficient for developing clinical disease, which is exacerbated by dietary factors. Diet appears to strongly affect caries development although the particulars vary with the group of children or culture. In some groups, prolonged use of baby bottles containing fermentable carbohydrates are a risk while in other groups a high sucrose chewable diet is the main risk. Caries involvement begins as soon as the first incisor teeth erupt and increase over time as more teeth erupt and surfaces become at risk.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing (MI) in preventing ECC. The design is a clinical trial of 210 twelve to 18 month old children and mothers who will be randomly assigned to either MI or a control traditional health education intervention. The study population is the east Asian community in Vancouver, British Columbia. The goal of the intervention is to assist parents in choosing from various preventive behaviors and options and to help them adopt new behaviors shown to prevent ECC. Parents and children will be recalled after 12 and 24 months. Children will be assessed for ECC; parents will be interviewed regarding parenting behaviors. This study is consistent with the aims of the proposed Comprehensive Center.
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