Kogan Rachel
Tiffanie Chiu
Sejal Menghani
Jhanavi Srivakumar
| Kogan Rachel | Tiffanie Chiu | Sejal Menghani | Jhanavi Srivakumar |
Rachel Kogan, Tiffanie Chiu, Sejal Menghani, Jhanavi Srivakumar
Joan Gluch, Tatyana Straus, Deanne Wallaert
Division of Community Oral Health, Preventive & Restorative Sciences, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
Description
The goal of this study was to create a story book to educate children under the age of five on the process of caries development, and to determine if additional education can influence behavior in the dental chair. The story book contains a description of a young girl who neglected daily oral hygiene and takes the reader on a journey through the eyes of the cariogenic bacteria inhabiting her oral cavity.
Project Overview
Early childhood dental fear is a prominent issue in pediatric and general dental settings. It is common for children to be resistant to proper oral hygiene both at the office and at home. We believe that this is largely due to the lack of educational materials targeted at this age group.
Outcome
Initial data suggests that average Frankl scores prior to book reading range from 2 to 3. Post-reading data analysis is ongoing, but we anticipate it will display an increase in Frankl Scores. We intend for the book to become an integral part of the Penn Dental Pediatric Clinic and upon publication to be an educational device available to all outside the dental school.