Abstract
The aim of this study was to establish a new support system for infants regarding oral and food health. Therefore, a questionnaire investigation was carried out on the anxieties of parents regarding the oral condition and feeding situation of 1,398 kindergarten infants (724 boys and 674 girls) who attended a dental checkup with their parents in the Tokyo metropolitan area in 2007. As a result, the percentages of parents who had anxieties and issues about the oral cavities of their male children, aged 2 to 4, ranged from 65 to 72%, but was 75% for 3-year-old girls. This indicated that the parents tended to have a higher frequency of issues regarding the age at completion of deciduous dentition. Meanwhile, the percentage of anxieties and issues regarding eating was clearly lower in the 1-year-old girl group and the percentages in other groups were more than 60%. Specifically, the percentage was significantly higher in the 2-year-old group regarding 'not chewing enough', and 'swallowing without chewing' in the 1-year-old and 2-year-old groups showed significantly higher percentages than in older groups except for the analysis between the group of 2-year-old girls and 3-year-old girls. Next, the percentages of anxieties and issues regarding 'varying amount of eating' were significantly higher in 2-year-old, 3-year-old and 4-year-old groups than in other groups, except for a statistical relationship between the 4-year-old girl and 5-year-old girl groups. Moreover, the issue of 'likes and dislikes' showed significantly higher percentages in 3-year-old boys and 3-year-old girls than 2-year-old boys and 1-year-old and 2-year-old girls, respectively. These findings suggested that issues regarding mastication occurred with increased frequency in the parents of young children; in contrast, other issues about self-feeding emerged at a high rate in the group of older children. Furthermore, various anxieties and issues related to the oral condition and eating of babies and toddlers occured and the frequency of these issues varied depending on the age of children. Consequently, it is essential to support multilaterally those parents who are anxious about their children.
