Knowledge and Practices of Mothers towards Infant Oral Health Care in Their Children’s First Year of Life

Abstract

This study aimed to assess mothers’ oral health-related knowledge and practices in immediate and late puerperium, and in the child’s first year of life. This study is a prospective cohort study, in which data were collected from 358 mothers of children born between 2013 and 2014, in immediate and late puerperium, and in children’s first year of life, by interviews with sociodemographic characterization and oral health questionnaires, and were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-square test (α = 5%). Participants were mainly aged 20 to 29 years (53.9%), with 7 to 11 years of education (67.6%), from low social class (72.3%), unemployed (58.9%), married or in common-law marriage (84.1%), with more than one child (60.1%). Although 51.7% of them had received information about children’s oral health, only 0.8%, 32.4% and 13.7%, respectively, knew the concept, etiology and preventive attitudes regarding dental caries. Mothers aged under 20 and over 30 years, with lower education and from low social class presented significantly lower oral health-related knowledge. At children’s first year of life, although 78.7% of the children had already been taken to the dentist, half of them had already tasted sugary foods and drinks. It is highlighted the social determination and the need of an improvement of mothers’ oral health related knowledge and practices. Educational actions, especially in prenatal programs, are important to achieve this improvement and to decrease early childhood caries rates.Keywords: Dental Caries. Child. Health Knowledge Attitudes, Practice. Parents. Oral Health.ResumoAvaliar o conhecimento e as práticas de mães sobre a saúde bucal de seus filhos no puerpério imediato, tardio, e no primeiro ano de vida da criança. Trata-se de um estudo de coorte prospectiva, no qual os dados foram coletados de 358 mães de bebês nascidos entre 2013 e 2014, no puerpério imediato, tardio e um ano após o parto, por entrevistas com perguntas sobre dados sociodemográficos e sobre saúde bucal. Os dados foram analisados por estatísticas descritivas e pelo teste Qui-quadrado (α = 5%). As participantes apresentavam, majoritariamente, idades entre 20 a 29 anos (53,9%), com 7 a 11 anos de estudo (67,6%), eram de baixa classe social (72,3%), desempregadas (58,9%), casadas ou em união estável (84,1%), e tinham mais de um filho (60,1%). Apesar de 51.7% delas afirmarem ter recebido informações sobre saúde bucal infantil, apenas 0,8%, 32,4% e 13,7%, respectivamente, sabiam o conceito, etiologia e as atitudes preventivas à cárie. Mães com idades abaixo de 20 e acima de 29 anos apresentaram menor conhecimento sobre saúde bucal do que as demais. No primeiro ano de vida, apesar de 78,7% das crianças já terem ido ao dentista, metade delas já havia experimentado alimentos e bebidas açucarados. Destaca-se a determinação social e a necessidade de melhora no conhecimento e práticas das mães sobre saúde bucal. Ações educativas, especialmente em programas de atenção pré-natal, são importantes para atingir essa melhora e, consequentemente, diminuir as taxas da cárie na primeira infância. Palavras-chave: Cárie Dentária. Criança. Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Práticas em Saúde. Pais. Saúde Bucal.

Knowledge, Attitude of Mothers towards Infant Oral Healthcare in Baghdad City/ Al-Karkh

“…This study reported that knowledge score of the mothers was good in 29.3%, fair knowledge in 38.7%, and poor in the remaining 32% as shown in (Figure 1). A different result observed in Jaafar et al,2018 study in Lebanon, in which based on the total score category calculation the results showed that, most of the expected mothers (69.5%) had fair, while 17.4% had poor, and 13.1% had good knowledge (6,7,8) .…”

“…In Chala et al,, 2018 study in Morocco, the adjusted linear regression model showed that the knowledge score was significantly related to mother's age (P < 0.001), education level (P < 0.001) (9) . Rossato et al, study in Brazil, in 2021 reported that Mothers' knowledge score was associated with sociodemographic parameters, being those mothers aged from 20 to 29 years and with higher education who presented higher levels of oral health care knowledge (6) .…”