Effect of Socio-Demographic Factors on the Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Parents of Preschoolers

Parents are the decision-makers and play an imperative role in achieving the best oral health outcomes for their young children. It is the educational level or the literacy rate of the parents that will affect the child’s oral health status. Also, the area of residence of a person affects the various facilities available and in turn affects the knowledge and beliefs of a person. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the effect of socio-demographic factors on the oral health knowledge, attitude and practices of parents of preschoolers.

Self-structured questionnaires containing 48 items, with 16 questions each about knowledge, attitude and practice were distributed to the 127 children in Chandigarh and 149 children in Hisar with written instructions and a consent form. In all, 120 parents from Chandigarh and 139 from Hisar returned the completed questionnaires.

The results revealed that residents of Chandigarh had significantly more oral health knowledge than that of Hisar. A significantly better attitude was seen among parents in Chandigarh regarding feeding habits, brushing techniques and regular dental visits. It was seen that parents in Chandigarh showed good practices like regular examination of their child’s mouth, the frequency of brushing, assistance in maintaining oral hygiene.

The results showed that the socio-demographic factors greatly affect the facilities available and thus the knowledge and beliefs of the residents ultimately affecting the oral health status of the residents.