Knowledge and Practice of Mothers in Relation to Dental Health of Pre- School Children

Introduction: Mother’s dental health knowledge has a vital role on children's dental health. This study aimed to assess knowledge and practice of mothers in relation to dental health of pre-school children. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional pre-school based study of 419 mothers of 3-5 years old pre-school children were selected randomly from 20 kindergartens in Khartoum North, Sudan. An interviewer administered questionnaire used to assess the mother’s dental health knowledge and practice in relation to mother’s age, education and occupation. Results: The majority of mothers 394 (94%) age were 20 to 40 years old, 52.7% had university education and 63.7% were housewives. In general, mothers showed good knowledge, the overall mean ± SD knowledge score was 7.22 ± 1.42, while for practice the overall mean ± SD practice score was 41.3 ± 11.8. Significant association found between dental health knowledge and practice and mother’s education level (p = 0.00). Conclusion: Relatively good mother knowledge regarding dental health of preschool children but regrettably this knowledge was not fully reflected on practices. Higher education mothers had better knowledge and practices. The findings of this study emphasize the significant role of mothers in promoting dental health of pre-school children.