Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Taibah University, AlMadinah AlMunawwarah, Saudi Arabia.
Private Practice, AlMadinah AlMunawwarah, Saudi Arabia.
East Mediterr Health J. 2022 Mar 29;28(3):190-196. doi: 10.26719/emhj.21.074.
Dental caries is a common but preventable, multifactorial disease in children. Among several others, it is influenced by child- and parent-related factors.
To describe knowledge, attitude and practices about oral health among parents of kindergarten children and assess factors influencing caries distribution among the children.
Parents of 290 kindergarten children in AlMadinah, Saudi Arabia, answered questions concerning their oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices. The children underwent an oral clinical examination. Data were collected between February and April 2018. Comparison between groups was done using the Kruskal-Wallis test.
All parents agreed on the importance of fluoride to strengthen teeth, while 91.7% thought that sweets have a negative impact on teeth. Almost all children ate sweets and candies (99%), while most of them used toothbrushes and fluoride to clean their teeth (98%). Only 66% of parents took their children to the dentist. The 2-step cluster analysis revealed that clusters of children with high body mass index (BMI) and those whose parents had only primary education had the highest caries prevalence compared to clusters of children with lower BMI and parents with higher education (P < 0.05).
Within the study limits, parents demonstrated good oral health knowledge, attitudes and practices. Kindergarten children had high caries, especially those with high BMI and whose parents had low educational levels.
龋齿是儿童中一种常见但可预防的多因素疾病。在许多因素中，它受到儿童和家长相关因素的影响。
描述幼儿园儿童家长的口腔健康知识、态度和行为，并评估这些因素对儿童龋齿分布的影响。
对沙特阿拉伯麦地那的 290 名幼儿园儿童的家长进行问卷调查，内容涉及他们的口腔健康知识、态度和行为。对儿童进行口腔临床检查。数据收集于 2018 年 2 月至 4 月之间。采用 Kruskal-Wallis 检验对组间进行比较。
所有家长都同意氟化物对增强牙齿的重要性，而 91.7%的家长认为甜食对牙齿有负面影响。几乎所有的孩子都吃甜食和糖果（99%），而大多数孩子使用牙刷和氟化物来清洁牙齿（98%）。只有 66%的家长带孩子去看牙医。两步聚类分析显示，与 BMI 较低和受教育程度较高的儿童群体相比，BMI 较高和父母受教育程度较低的儿童群体中，龋齿患病率较高（P<0.05）。
在研究范围内，家长表现出良好的口腔健康知识、态度和行为。幼儿园儿童的龋齿患病率较高，尤其是那些 BMI 较高和父母受教育程度较低的儿童。
