Mothers' Awareness, Attitude and Practices Regarding Oral Health of Preschool Children

Abstract

Background: An essential technique for predicting a parent's perspective on their child's oral health is the evaluation of their knowledge, attitude and dental hygiene habits. It is possible to discover abnormalities early and avoid tooth cavities by practicing proper dental hygiene. Aim of the study: Was to assess mothers' awareness, attitude and practices regarding oral health of preschool children. Subjects and Methods; Design: A descriptive cross-sectional design was utilized to conduct the current study. Setting: Eleven governmental nursery schools in Awlad Sakr City, Al Sharkia Governorate participated in the study. Subjects: In this study, 400 mothers of preschoolers and their children participated. Tools of data collection: To gather data for the study, five tools were utilized, including: 1) an interview form with three parts: Sociodemographic data, information about the mother's pregnancy, delivery and the child's dental history. 2) Mothers' awareness tool. 3) Mothers’ attitude tool. 4) Mothers' practices tool. 5) Observation checklist. Results: Approximately 75.5% of the mothers in the study had satisfactory level of awareness about dental health, 69.3% of them had positive attitude while 67.3% of mothers practice were poor. Additionally, there were statistically significant relation between preschoolers' dental health and their mothers' awareness, attitudes and practices. Conclusion: The dental health condition of the children under study is influenced by the mothers' good knowledge, positive attitude and adequate oral hygiene practices. Recommendations: Training program for preschool mothers about oral hygiene and optimal brushing technique for oral health promotion, and further studies are needed to confirm study findings.