{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T10:19:48Z","timestamp":1785406788994,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]],"date-time":"2026-05-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1778716800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009523","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para o Desenvolvimento da UNESP","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["No. 137\/2023"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 137\/2023"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009523","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["No. 137\/2023"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 137\/2023"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/022b8mr96","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Healthcare"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Oral health promotion in early childhood depends strongly on caregivers\u2019 preventive care at home and educational centers. The aim of this study was to investigate socioeconomic, educational, cultural, and oral health factors associated with caregivers\u2019 decisions to decline their children\u2019s participation in school-based oral health promotion programs. Methods: Caregivers who did not authorize their children\u2019s participation in the project were identified through school records and contacted using available information (name, telephone number, and email address). Participants were selected through simple random sampling. Results: Among the 58 caregivers included in the study, the main reasons reported were failure to return the consent form or missing the deadline (36.2%), considering the child too young (19.0%), already receiving private dental care (13.8%), not understanding the consent form (13.8%), not having received the document (10.3%), lack of trust in the professional (3.4%), and other reasons (3.4%). Higher income was significantly associated with higher educational level (p = 0.002), increased toothbrushing frequency (p = 0.007), shorter time since the last dental visit (p &lt; 0.001), and lower levels of embarrassment related to oral health (p &lt; 0.001). Additionally, lower-income caregivers were more likely to seek dental care only in the presence of problems (p = 0.046), while higher-income families were more likely to report private dental care as a reason for non-authorization (p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: These findings associate socioeconomic and educational inequalities with adverse effects on family oral health among parents, by reducing the frequency of preventive dental examinations and daily oral hygiene practices; and among children, by limiting authorization to participate in school-based oral health promotion programs. This evidence underscores that successful promotion of children\u2019s oral health in educational settings requires addressing social disparities while strengthening caregivers\u2019 knowledge and motivation to support participation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/healthcare14101347","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]],"date-time":"2026-05-14T16:27:56Z","timestamp":1778776076000},"page":"1347","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Socioeconomic, Educational, Cultural, and Oral Health Practices Among Caregivers Declining Their Children\u2019s Participation in School-Based Oral Health Promotion Programs: A Cross-Sectional Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Guilherme Assump\u00e7\u00e3o","family":"Silva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnosis and Surgery, School of Dentistry, S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Ara\u00e7atuba 16015-050, SP, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diego Augusto Amorim","family":"Cant\u00e3o","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnosis and Surgery, School of Dentistry, S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Ara\u00e7atuba 16015-050, SP, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7531-0925","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vitor Hugo Gon\u00e7alves","family":"Sampaio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnosis and Surgery, School of Dentistry, S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Ara\u00e7atuba 16015-050, SP, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Louren\u00e7o Vieira Tereza","family":"Canevari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnosis and Surgery, School of Dentistry, S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Ara\u00e7atuba 16015-050, SP, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandra Marcondes","family":"Aranega","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnosis and Surgery, School of Dentistry, S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Ara\u00e7atuba 16015-050, SP, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wilson Galhego","family":"Garcia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Basic Sciences, School of Dentistry, S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Ara\u00e7atuba 16015-050, SP, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0315-6161","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cristina","family":"Antoniali Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Basic Sciences, School of Dentistry, S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Ara\u00e7atuba 16015-050, SP, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3444-8519","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniela Atili","family":"Brandini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Diagnosis and Surgery, School of Dentistry, S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP), Ara\u00e7atuba 16015-050, SP, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jeong, J., Franchett, E.E., Ramos de Oliveira, C.V., Rehmani, K., and Yousafzai, A.K. 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