Description

Dental caries is a common problem in children, and teaching good oral hygiene is important for prevention. Parents play a key role in protecting their children's teeth, especially when the first permanent molars erupt, because these teeth are more sensitive to plaque and caries. In pediatric dentistry, it is known that when parents have better oral health literacy, their children tend to show better oral health outcomes, making parental literacy an important factor.

Because of this, education methods that allow parents and children to see the mouth clearly may be more effective. Using an intraoral camera provides real-time visual feedback, so children and parents can directly observe plaque, caries, and brushing mistakes. This may increase motivation, support correct brushing techniques, and improve parents' understanding of oral health.

The aim of this study is to determine whether intraoral camera-assisted education can improve children's oral hygiene and increase parents' oral health awareness and literacy more than standard verbal education.

Based on this aim, the study tested the following hypotheses:

Null Hypothesis (H0a): Intraoral camera-assisted education has no effect on improving children's oral hygiene levels.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1a): Intraoral camera-assisted education improves children's oral hygiene levels.

Null Hypothesis (H0b): Intraoral camera-assisted education has no effect on improving parental oral health literacy.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1b): Intraoral camera-assisted education improves parental oral health literacy.

Null Hypothesis (H0c): Intraoral camera-assisted education has no effect on plaque accumulation on first permanent molars.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1c): Intraoral camera-assisted education reduces plaque accumulation on first permanent molars.

For this purpose, the study is planned as a randomized controlled trial with two groups: an intervention group and a control group. Data will be collected before the education and at the 1-month follow-up after the education to compare changes over time. A two-factor repeated measures ANOVA will be used to evaluate the differences between the groups.

A priori power analysis (G\*Power 3.1) showed that at least 34 participants (17 for each group) are needed to detect a medium effect (f = 0.25, α = 0.05, 80% power). To reduce the risk of sample loss, a total of 40 child-parent pairs will be included. These pairs will be randomly assigned to either the intraoral camera-assisted education group or the standard verbal education group.

Intervention group: Receives intraoral camera-assisted oral hygiene education. Dental findings such as plaque, caries, and gingival inflammation, as well as brushing techniques, are visualized in real time. Disclosing agents highlight plaque-covered areas, and brushing demonstrations on the child's teeth are individualized using the Modified Stillman and cross-brushing techniques. Parents and children receive visual feedback to reinforce oral hygiene education.

Control group: Receives standard verbal oral hygiene education using a brushing model. The Modified Stillman and cross-brushing techniques are demonstrated verbally and on the model, without intraoral camera visualization.

Primary outcomes are changes in children's Plaque Index (PI), Gingival Index (GI), ICDAS caries scores, and parents' oral health literacy assessed using the Turkish version of the Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task for Pediatric Dentistry (TOHLAT-P).

Secondary outcomes are the Occlusal Plaque Index (OPI) on first molars and the Parent-Child Satisfaction Survey evaluating the intraoral camera-assisted education. Assessments will be conducted at baseline and 1-month follow-up, except for the satisfaction survey, which will be administered only at the 1-month follow-up. The study assesses whether visualized instruction provides additional benefits over verbal education alone in improving objective clinical measures and parental understanding, supporting enhanced preventive care in pediatric dental practice.