Evaluation of parental knowledge and attitude toward appropriate principles of oral hygiene in 3-7-years-old children in Ilam, 2021

Knowledge and attitude as important factors  for oral and teeth health play a positive  role in preventing oral and teeth diseases. The present study investigates the knowledge and attitude of parents toward the correct principles of  oral hygiene in 3 to 7 years old children in Ilam in 1399.                                                           

The present descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 109 parents of 3- to 7-year-old children who were referred to dental clinics in Ilam. A researcher-made questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. The collected information was entered into SPSS 24 software and the significance level was considered as 0.05.

In this study, the mean score of mothers 'knowledge was 29±074/7 and the mean score of fathers' knowledge was 5±27. The mean score of mothers 'attitude was 6±53 and the mean score of fathers' attitude was 4±51. 16% had poor knowledge, 66% had moderate knowledge and 18% had a good knowledge. 14% of parents had poor attitude, 66% had moderate and 20% had a good attitude.  Statistical analysis showed a significant relationship between parents' knowledge and their age(p=/009) and education(p=/004). There was also a meaningful relationship between attitude and gender(p=/048), income (p=/019) and education (p=/018) .

The results of this study showed that parents' information about the child's oral health observing is low. Therefore, education of parents seems necessary  at the community level.