Evaluating mother's knowledge about the importance of primary dentition

Understanding the importance of primary teeth will influence physical and mental wellbeing of children. Mothers as primary care giver are important in health promotion programs for children. Purpose of this study conducted to determine the level of knowledge of mothers about the importance of primary teeth in 3-5 year children in Tabriz. A cross-sectional descriptive study has been designed. Mother’s of preschool children aged 3-5 years were selected from Tabriz kindergarten. Data was analyzed by using multi-stage sampling and SPSS software. 18.4% of mothers had very poor knowledge about the importance of primary dentition, 46.6% had poor knowledge, 27% had moderate knowledge and only 8% of the mothers had good awareness. The data also suggest that there is a significant relationship between mother's education level and family income level and the level of knowledge (P value<0.05). Source of information for mothers was mainly radio and TV. The results of this study showed that mother's awareness about the importance of primary teeth was low. Significant relationship was found between mother's education, family income and mother's awareness.