Perception and oral health behaviors of parents and oral health status of 3–5 years’old children Samsoong district, Khon Kaen Province

Abstract

                Perceptions and oral health behaviors of parents tend to be important for children’s oral health status. The objective of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to 1) investigate the knowledge of children oral health care, oral health perceptions and children oral health care of parents and 2) explore relationships between the knowledge, oral health perceptions, children oral health behaviors of parents and oral health status of their children. The research was carried out in Samsoong District, Khon Kean province. The samples were 145 parents and their children aged 3-5 years old. Data were collected by oral examination and questionnaires regarding oral health behaviors. Content validity of the questionnaire was validated by 3 experts yielding values ranged from 0.67 to 1.00. The reliability of the questionnaire regarding the level of knowledge was tested using KR-20 yielding a value of 0.80. The reliability of the questionnaire regarding perception and behaviors of dietary was tested using Cronbach alpha’s coefficient yielding values of 0.709 and 0.712 respectively. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics as frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, and analytical statistics for testing correlation by computing Chi-square test, Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient and Spearman rank correlation coefficient.

              The results showed that the children had an average mean dmft accounted for 4.92 teeth/person.  That 56.6 percent of parents had knowledge at a ‘high’ level; 77.2 percent of the samples had a ‘very good’ level of dental health perception and 54.5 percent performed a ‘moderate’ level of oral health behavior for their children. The knowledge of dental health did not significantly relate to oral health behaviors of parents (p-value = 0.616). The perceptions of dental health significantly associated with parents’ oral health behavior for children (p-value = 0.002). Oral health behaviors of parents for their children significantly related to their children oral health status (p-value = 0.013. To encourage parents to beware and brush their children’s teeth regularly may be the solution to prevent dental caries in 3–5 years old children.