Screening for and Awareness about Periodontal Diseases in Children and Adolescents

Aims: The first study aimed to investigate the extent to which paediatric dental specialists and General Dental Practitioners use the Basic Periodontal Examination (BPE) screening system on their patients, and the extent to which they are aware of the guidelines for periodontal screening and management of children and adolescents. The second study aimed to investigate parents’ awareness about periodontal disease, and the importance of periodontal screening in children.
Methods: Two questionnaires were developed. The first was mailed to all paediatric dental specialists registered with the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry, and to an equivalent random sample of General Dental Practitioners working in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The second was handed to one hundred parents who attended the children’s dentistry clinic at the Leeds Dental Institute.
Results: Most dentists (74.4%) routinely screened children for periodontal disease and 92.6% of these dentists reported using the Simplified BPE screening system on child patients. Most dentists thought that using the Simplified BPE screening system is an accepted, comfortable, quick and easy system to use in child patients. However, 67% of dentists thought that parents do not expect their children to be screened for periodontal disease.
Most parents (95%) were aware of the importance of their child being checked for periodontal disease. However, 45% of the parents did not know if their child was previously checked for periodontal disease. Most parents were aware of signs of periodontal disease, but not about causes of periodontal disease. Almost half of the parents (44%) did not expect their child to be screened for periodontal disease.
Conclusions: Most dentists screened child patients using the Simplified BPE screening system and were aware of the guidelines. Most parents were aware about signs of periodontal disease, but had insufficient knowledge about causes, and means of preventing periodontal disease.