Ukaipō niho: the place of nurturing for oral health.

Objectives: To report on oral-health-related characteristics, beliefs, and behaviours among participants in a randomised control trial of an intervention to prevent early childhood caries (ECC) among Māori children, and to determine whether there were any systematic differences between the intervention and control groups at baseline.

Design: Baseline measurements from a randomised control trial (involving 222 pregnant Māori women allocated randomly to either Intervention or Delayed groups) which is currently underway.

Setting: The rohe (tribal area) of Waikato-Tainui.