Bangkok Declaration, DOHaD Concepts and Teledentistry: a comprehensive approach to prevent early childhood caries

Background The Bangkok Declaration and the Dohad Concept guide pediatric dentists in promoting oral health during the first thousand days of life. Teledentistry can help translate these guidelines into practice, facilitating education for parents. Aim to evaluate the impact of a teledentistry service as an innovative approach to adopting healthy habits to prevent early childhood caries (ECC). Design: Sixty-four parents of children aged 0 to 5 received teleconsultations from 118 supervised undergraduate students. The students, working in pairs under a lecturer's supervision, collected caries risk information and educated parents. Fisher's exact test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test assessed associations, while multivariate analysis identified factors influencing habit changes. Results The parents of 55 children (86%) participated in at least two teleconsultations, with the majority of children (78.2%) aged up to 3 years. Positive changes in habits were noted, particularly among children with employed and more educated mothers (p = 0.007 and p = 0.019, respectively). Significant improvements included increased use of fluoride toothpaste (p = 0.02), higher brushing frequency (p = 0.0004), and reduced sugar consumption frequency (p = 0.025). Conclusion Teledentistry can be an important tool for implementing healthy habits in the first years of life, increasing oral hygiene and reducing sugar consumption, thus preventing ECC and chronic non-communicable diseases.