diff --git src/wp-admin/includes/template.php src/wp-admin/includes/template.php
index 5304cf8..d918a55 100644
--- src/wp-admin/includes/template.php
+++ src/wp-admin/includes/template.php
@@ -808,9 +808,17 @@ function page_template_dropdown( $default = '' ) {
  * @return void|bool Boolean False if page has no children, otherwise print out html elements
  */
 function parent_dropdown( $default = 0, $parent = 0, $level = 0 ) {
-	global $wpdb;
 	$post = get_post();
-	$items = $wpdb->get_results( $wpdb->prepare("SELECT ID, post_parent, post_title FROM $wpdb->posts WHERE post_parent = %d AND post_type = 'page' ORDER BY menu_order", $parent) );
+
+	$items = get_posts( apply_filters( 'parent_dropdown_args', array(
+		'post_parent' => $parent,
+		'post_type' => 'page',
+		'orderby' => 'menu_order',
+		'posts_per_page' => -1,
+		'update_post_meta_cache' => false,
+		'update_post_term_cache' => false,
+		'no_found_rows' => true,
+	) ) );
 
 	if ( $items ) {
 		foreach ( $items as $item ) {