Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
28th International Congress of Turkish Society of Paediatric Dentistry, Antalya, Türkiye, 6 - 09 Ekim 2022, ss.119
Aim: Mothers are individuals who play a key role in the development of children’s oral health. This study aimed to measure the mothers’ awareness
of their children’s tooth brushing habits, dentist visits, and dental procedures.
Methods: 124 patients, 63 female and 61 male, aged 7-14 years, who applied to the Inonu University Faculty of Dentistry Department of Pedodontics
and their mothers were included in this study. Intraoral examinations of all children were performed and dental treatments were recorded. A
questionnaire consisting of 12-question was applied to the mothers about their education (1-question), the child’s brushing habits (5-question),
dental visits (5-question), and dental treatments (1-question). The data were statistically analyzed using Chi-square test.
Results: The mean age of the children’s first dental visit was 5.91±1.93 years, and the starting age of brushing teeth was 3.55±2.19 years. The
most common reason for visiting the dentist was toothache. 12.9% of mothers did not know whether their children have tooth decay. It was statistically
significant whether mothers knew about the dental procedures performed on their children in the pedodontics clinic (p<0.001). While
mothers were most aware of their children’s dental restorations (66.0%), they had the least idea about children’s fissure sealants (2.3%).
Conclusions: Parents did not have sufficient knowledge about the oral health of their children and lack information about dental treatments. The
most effective solution to improve the oral and dental health of the community is the training of mothers who are primarily responsible for the
oral health of the children.