Oral health awareness and information sources in mothers of preschoolers in a non-affluent area

Title: Oral health awareness and information sources in mothers of preschoolers in a non-affluent area in Tehran.
Dental caries of the under 6-year-olds may involve them with mental, physical and social problems. We aimed to study oral health awareness and information sources in mothers of preschoolers in a non-affluent area in Tehran.
Participants were composed of 100 mothers referring to 6 urban health houses of the region 11 in Tehran. Mothers filled a questionnaire on demographics, knowledge (7 questions) and sources of information (7 sources) regarding children’s oral health. Linear regression served for statistical analysis.
The mean for mothers’ awareness score was 5.1 out of 7. The lowest number of mothers’ correctly answering was for “bacterial transition from mother to child” and highest was for the “role of fluoride toothpaste”. Their most common sources were TV and dentist, respectively. Mothers’ knowledge was higher in those with higher educational level and those whose children were second or third child in the family.
The results revealed that despite using diverse information sources, mothers’ awareness was low. Involving them in oral health promotion programs may improve children’s oral health in non-affluent areas.