Journal of Oral Health and Community Dentistry

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VOLUME 16 , ISSUE 2 ( May-August, 2022 ) > List of Articles

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Child Oral Health-related Knowledge and Practices of Mothers in Bahrain—Are Practices Based on Knowledge?

Gowri Sivaramakrishnan, Basma Alawadhi, Bayan Almahmood, Khulood Allooloo, Noora Alnajem, Zainab Jaffar, Leena AlSalihi, Muneera Alsobaiei

Keywords : Health promotion, Maternal knowledge, Pediatric oral health

Citation Information : Sivaramakrishnan G, Alawadhi B, Almahmood B, Allooloo K, Alnajem N, Jaffar Z, AlSalihi L, Alsobaiei M. Child Oral Health-related Knowledge and Practices of Mothers in Bahrain—Are Practices Based on Knowledge?. J Oral Health Comm Dent 2022; 16 (2):77-82.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10062-0067A

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 13-09-2022

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2022; The Author(s).


Abstract

Introduction: Young children are not capable of maintaining good oral hygiene independently. The current prevalence of dental caries in Bahrain is extremely high and considering the importance of mother's role, the present study was aimed to identify the association between child oral health-related knowledge and practices of Bahraini mothers. Materials and methods: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study included mothers with at least one child between 6 months and 12 years of age. The questionnaire consisted of three parts to decipher information on demographic data, knowledge of mothers on child oral health, and the oral health-related practices of mothers. Student t-test and ANOVA were used to assess the level of significance between the variables and knowledge scores. The p-value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. The data obtained were analyzed using Graph Instat version 3.1. software. Results: In total, 264 mothers were included. The total mean (SD) knowledge score was 7.73 (1.83). Anxious mothers (p-value = 0.050), aged 31–40 (p = 0.046) significantly displayed greater knowledge scores. About 73.8% of the mothers took their child to a dentist only in pain. There were significantly greater odds of good knowledge scores in mothers that received tooth brushing demonstration [2.33 (1.37–3.95)]. Conclusion: The mean knowledge scores of mothers were found to be poor. Although majority of the mothers showed promising oral hygiene practices, these practices were not based on good knowledge regarding oral health. This relationship needs to be established in order to bring about an overall improvement in the oral health of the children in Bahrain.


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