Fluoride hesitancy: A mixed methods study on decision-making about forms of fluoride

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate whether professionally applied topical fluoride-hesitant caregivers are also hesitant about other forms of fluoride for their child. Methods: This was a mixed methods study of 56 caregivers hesitant about professionally applied topical fluoride for their child recruited from the University of Washington Center for Paediatric Dentistry and Seattle Children's Hospital's Odessa Brown Children's Dental Clinic. A 32-item semi-structured interview script was piloted and finalized. One-time interviews with caregivers were conducted by phone in 2019. Associations between hesitancy of topical fluoride, fluoridated water and toothpaste were assessed quantitatively via two-tailed chi-squared tests. Qualitative data were coded using an inductive approach and content analytic methods to investigate reasons for hesitancy. Results: There were significant associations between hesitancy in all three pairwise comparisons of fluoride form (p