Comparative Evaluation of Oral Health and Behavior Changes in Children after Motivational Interviewing and Traditional Method of Oral Health Education among Mothers: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

AIM: To analyze the effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) compared to traditional health education among mothers in improving children's oral health and behavioral changes. REVIEW METHODS: The search strategy was framed using relevant MeSH terms and free text terms in PubMed, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar for the articles published in the English language between 1(st) January 2000 and 31(st) December 2020. Only randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trials, and clinical trials comparing MI with traditional health education were included. Cochrane risk of bias (ROB) tool was used for the quality assessment of the included studies, and Review Manager 5.3 software was used for computing results. RESULTS: A total of 9 studies were included for qualitative synthesis and 5 for quantitative synthesis from an initial search of 3,708 articles. The cumulative mean difference for dental caries was −1.03 [95% confidence interval (CI)—1.37–0.70] p < 0.00001, for frequency of toothbrushing Pooled odds ratio was 1.69 (95% CI—0.68–4.25) p = 0.26 and for in-between snacking was 0.83 with (95% CI—0.48–1.44) p = 0.51. A significant difference was present in dental caries among children with mothers in the MI group, while no difference was present in in-between snacking and frequency of toothbrushing between both the groups. CONCLUSION: Motivational interviewing (MI) prove to be significantly effective in reducing newer dental caries for shorter duration; however, long-term effectiveness could not be assessed. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Motivational interviewing (MI) can be considered an effective and feasible method for oral health education to mothers, which will, in turn, improve the oral health of their children. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: International prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO) under registration code. CRD42021224278. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Karande PH, Shetty VB, Vinay V, et al. Comparative Evaluation of Oral Health and Behavior Changes in Children after Motivational Interviewing and Traditional Method of Oral Health Education among Mothers: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2023;16(3):464–473.