Parental Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Regarding Children's Dental Health

Abstract

Parent-targeted oral health awareness campaigns should place a strong emphasis on issues like the value of deciduous teeth and how to treat them, frequent dental checkups, and dietary habits. The current study's objective is to evaluate parents' knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes regarding their children's oral health and how those factors affect the prevalence of dental caries in 5- to 10-year-old children in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Parents of school-aged children aged 5 to 10 who came to our hospital were the subjects of a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. The study included 209 children in all, together with their parents. Utilizing DMFT and the deft index, clinical examinations of children were conducted. Parents were given a self-designed questionnaire to evaluate their understanding, attitudes, and practices about their children's dental health. SPSS version 24 was used for the statistical analysis. A p-value of 0.05 or less was regarded as statistically significant when using the ANOVA test to examine the relationship between dental caries status and KAP. The mean deft and DMFT were 6.46 ± 1.6 and 1.56 ± 2.8, respectively. Most parents (72.2%) demonstrated adequate knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes. Parental KAP and mean DMFT/DEFT did not differ significantly. The study's participants had reasonable KAP for the oral health of their children. The significance of deciduous teeth and their treatment, frequent dental appointments, and dietary behaviors are among the knowledge gaps in oral health.