Assessing the Effects of Oral Health Knowledge and Behaviours of Mothers on Oral Health of Preschool 4-6 Years Old Children

Year 2023, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 554 - 564, 31.05.2023

Anas Mohamed , Gül Ergör , Gülser Kılınç

https://doi.org/10.30621/jbachs.904671

Abstract

Background- Pre-school child health has always been one of the most important milestones for lifelong health research. Also, the knowledge and behaviour of the parents, especially mothers, affects children's health. The variable household-related factors and mothers, in particular, are considered to be the main role models that can improve pre-school children behaviour.
Objective
To determine the knowledge and behaviours of the mothers and their impact on pre-school 4-6 years old children oral health status.
Method
A 27 subjects’ questionnaire was prepared using previous questionnaires assessing mothers’ knowledge and behaviours towards oral health. Children's oral and dental health was examined by the researcher and scores were calculated using dmft (decayed, missing, filled, tooth) index. Accordingly, the effect of knowledge and behaviour of the mothers on their children dmft score was analysed. Chi-Square and logistic regression tests were used in the statistical analysis.
Results
The study population consisted of 261 pre-school children and their mothers. Which included 126 males (48.3%) males and 135 females (51.7%). The mean mothers’ oral health knowledge score was found to be 4.24  1.94. The children oral health examination through dmft scoring showed that 71.3% of children had experienced dental caries. the mean value for dmft score was 2.32  2.39.
Our study showed that the mother's cumulative oral health knowledge score has a statistically significant relationship to the children oral health status. The higher the mother's oral health knowledge scores the lower their children dmft scores (p=0.001).
Conclusion Mothers oral health knowledge and dental health indices in our study are lagging behind the developed countries and the WHO goal for the 21st century showing an urgent need to improve the effectiveness of preventive care in oral health programmes.

Keywords

preschool children health, oral health knowledge, dental caries

Supporting Institution

Dokuz Eylul University

Thanks

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my family, my loved ones, who have supported me throughout my entire life, both by keeping me harmonious and helping me putting pieces together. I will be grateful forever for your love. I would like to extend my appreciation to my supervisors, Professor Gül ERGÖR for all your help and support through the entire program, Dr. Gülser KILINÇ for the useful comments, remarks and engagement through the learning process of this study. Furthermore, I would like to thank the paedıatrics department at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital for the support on the way. Special thanks to the Department of Public Health at the Institute of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University for the friendly and inspiring environment and for giving me the opportunity to grow professionally. Last but not least, my sincere appreciation to everyone who helped me through my journey since day one.

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