Measurement of Parents' Knowledge toward Oral Health of their Children: An Observational Study from Hail, Saudi Arabia.

Aim: Parents' knowledge of oral health maintenance is of crucial importance. Children are dependent on their parents for the maintenance of their oral health. Hence, the present study is aimed to measure parents' knowledge toward the oral health of their children.

Materials And Methods: It was an observational study, having a cross-sectional design in which information from 223 participants were collected after obtaining written consent using a convenient sampling technique. Data obtained from the questionnaire were coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Data were displayed as number and percentage, and the Chi-square test was used to measure association. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical approval committee of the University of Hail.

Results: The total numbers of parents included in the study were 223, out of which, 91 (40.8%) were males and 132 (59.1%) were females. Around 58.3% of the respondents believed that they would go for a dental visit when the child had dental pain. A majority of the participants (60%) believed that concerns with primary dentition would lead to permanent dentition in the future. Almost 97% of parents knew that sugar and sticky food had a bad effect on oral health. Nearly 50% of parents reported correctly that prolonged bottle-feeding had a negative effect on their children's oral health.

Conclusion: Most parents had satisfactory knowledge about the maintenance of oral hygiene of their children for most of the questions. However, the overall result of this study indicates that parents' information and approach toward oral hygiene and dental care need to be improved.

Clinical Significance: Parents' knowledge and positive attitude are central to children's oral health. The present study measured and recommends the need for oral health education and promotion for the parents.