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442 - An Analysis of Children’s Storybooks about Dentistry

Saturday, May 23, 2026
3:45 PM - 4:00 PM PST
Has Audio

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Sneha Varghese, BA (she/her/hers)

    DMD Candidate
    University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
    Waldwick, New Jersey, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • SO

    Sarena Oberoi, BS

    University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine

  • CP

    Caroline Palmer, BA

    University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine

  • Laurel Graham, MLS, ML

    Head, Dental Library
    University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
    University of Pennsylvania , United States

    • Research Mentor(s)

  • KH

    Kari Hexem, DMD MPH

    Department of Preventive and Restorative Sciences
    University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

    • Program Director(s)

  • LY

    Lauren C. Yap, DMD, MPH

    Assistant Program Director for Postdoctoral Pediatric Dentistry Program
    University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Abstract:

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the range of current dental-related children’s picture books to identify themes and develop a rubric to evaluate overall usefulness.

Methods: Dental storybooks were identified using WorldCat, Penn Libraries’ catalog FIND and Amazon.com using the search criteria, “dental medicine”, “oral health”, and “children’s books” as well as books from Penn Dental Medicine departments. Book lists were imported to Covidence, where two independent examiners screened each book. Examiners evaluated if the books focused on dental visits or offered oral hygiene instructions and if they contained illustrations. Each book’s reading level was assessed according to the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula and only books written in English were included. These books were coded based on identified themes, creating a code book to guide further efforts once thematic saturation was achieved. Books were categorized by age group using the American Academy of Pediatrics periodicity schedule.

Results: Fifty-five children's storybooks related to dentistry were included in this project and approximately 50 thematic codes were identified. Descriptive analysis was used to identify the most frequently occurring themes and to visualize the distribution of author types and thematic content. Our final list of recommended books included 40 of the 55 evaluated books.

Conclusion: This resource categorizes commercially available children’s books with themes of pediatric dentistry such as dental visits and oral hygiene instruction by theme, age, and reading level to make these concepts more digestible for children and parents.

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