Oral Health Knowledge and Practices of Mothers toward Their Children’s Oral Health in Al Madinah

Abstract

Aim: Oral health knowledge and practices shown by preschool children determine their oral health status in the future. This in turn depends on the knowledge and practices engraved into them by their mothers. Study Design: Cross-sectional Observational Analytic study. Subjects: Mothers of children who attend kindergartens in Madinah city, Al Madinah Al Munawarah, KSA. Methodology: Following ethical approval, four randomly selected Kindergartens were identified.  Self administrated questionnaires were distributed by the Kindergarten administration to the mothers of children. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. The first part consisted of demographic data and the second part consisted of 23 questions related to oral health knowledge and practices of mothers toward their children's oral health. Results: A total of 116 mothers out of 220 responded to the questionnaire (52.7% response rate). Majority of mothers were in the age group of 30-34 years old .The overall oral hygiene knowledge and practices of the mothers were fair. Most of the mothers were aware that dental caries was the most common dental disease affecting children. They also recognized the importance of fluoride in prevention of dental caries. On the other hand knowledge regarding the effect of cariogenic food on dental caries, time of consumption of sugary snack, malocclusion, timings of children first dental visit and the importance of regular dental visit were found to be poor. Conclusion: The mothers in the city of Madinah seemed to have fair knowledge and practices in relation to the oral health of preschool children.