Objective: The Tooth Smart Programme is a hospital-based parent-counselling programme established to stabilize existing carious lesions and prevent new caries in children. The purpose of this qualitative study was to: explore participating parents’ experiences of and views about parent counselling; identify and describe factors that influence the uptake of oral health advice; and uncover any unanticipated outcomes of parent counselling.
Methods: A purposively selected group of parents were invited to participate in, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed by qualitative thematic analysis.
Results: Participants liked the programme sessions occurring in a hospital dental clinic. This approach was valued because it allowed a dental assessment to accompany the preventive advice. Most felt that they had been successful in increasing the frequency and quality of their child’s tooth-brushing. Some reported that increased brushing reduced their child’s dental pain. Conversely, most had found it hard to control their child’s snacking on sugary foods and drinks.
Conclusion: Future development of programmes should consider participants’ expressed need for parent counselling to be provided in patient-centred sessions.
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