Relationship between mothers' awareness of eruption time of first permanent molar and its caries in 7-9-year-old children

Since the first permanent molar (FPM) as a first permanent tooth erupts between 6-7 years old and has a long period of eruption, it is the most caries prone tooth. One of the problems is inadequate knowledge of parents about the eruption time of the FPM; because these teeth erupt behind the deciduous teeth without a primary successor. In the present study, mothers' knowledge about its eruption time and its effect on health of these teeth was evaluated.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 406 schoolchildren (7-9 years old) and their mothers using multi-stage sampling in Babol in 2017. Mothers completed the check list according to the study objectives. Clinical status of FPM was measured using DMFT (Decayed, Missed, Filled Teeth) index. Finally, data were analyzed with SPSS 18 using t-test and chi-square. Significance level was considered as p<0.05.

Mothers’ awareness about the eruption time of FPM (p<0.001) was associated with higher ratio of children with sound FPM. Mothers’ education level was the most significant contributing factor to mothers' knowledge about FPM eruption time.

Mothers’ education and their knowledge about the FPMs eruption time were the major predictors of FPM caries status.