112 - A Survey of Texas Parents Regarding Dental Providers’ Role against HPV

Purpose: Evaluate perspectives of parents/legally authorized representatives on vaccination information in a dental setting and assess the willingness to approve of child receiving the vaccination in the dental clinic or to receive the vaccine elsewhere.

Methods: A questionnaire was completed by 200 parents/legally authorized representatives of UTSD patients between 9-14 years old. The questionnaire consisted of 31 questions regarding dental providers role in HPV vaccination.

Results: From the 200 usable questionnaires, majority of parents/ legally authorized representatives felt that dentist were qualified to counsel about HPV (74.34%) and its vaccination (69.08%). Age of parents/legally authorized representatives was not correlated with comfort levels, but sex and education level (p = 0.64) and child vaccination statuses (p > 0.001) were.

Conclusion: Parents are comfortable having discussions about HPV and the vaccine in the dental setting, especially with dentists which may increase vaccine uptake.