Evaluation of Parental Knowledge and Practice of Oral Hygiene Status in 7 Years Old Children in Kerman

Oral health education has important role in prevention of dental caries. Parents have important role in their children oral health. The aim of this study was to determine the parental knowledge and practice of oral hygiene status in 7 years old children. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 400 subjects selected through a multistage cluster stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire consist of 3 parts: demographic information (age, educational level, and occupational status), 23 questions about knowledge and 9 questions about practice. Data were analyzed using SPSS soft ware, and Pearson and t-test. P value was considered less than 0.05. 55% and 45% of respondents were mothers and fathers, respectively. The mean age of fathers was 38.56±6.23 and the mean age of mothers was 33.31±5.79.The mean score of knowledge and practice were 43.68±13.20 from 46 and 9.32±3.26 from 18 respectively. There is no significant difference regarding knowledge score between mothers and fathers. There are significant differences between knowledge and fathers’ educational level, practice and fathers’ educational level, knowledge and mothers’ educational level, and practice and mothers’ educational level (p