Abstract

Background：The WHO goal for the year 2010 is that ninety percent of 5 years old will be caries free. In 1997, the Department of Health reported the prevalence rate of dental caries in 2 to 3 years old children was 60％.Therefore, prevention of dental caries should begin in infant period. Purpose：The purposes of this study were:1; to analyze the association between dental caries, feeding and dental hygiene habits.2; caregiver's dental health knowledge, attitude and practices, 3; the related factors with dental health knowledge, attitude and practices of caregivers, 4; to analyze the association between feeding, dental hygiene habits, and caregiver's dental health knowledge, attitude. Methods：A total number of 665 children under 3 years old participated in this study. Stratified cluster sampling design and Probability Proportional to Size was used. The dental state of the children was examined by dentists. The dental health habits and status of daily life activities were collected by a standardized questionnaire completed by their parents or caregivers of database was designed using MS Access and data were analyzed using SAS and JMP(p＜0.05 was statistically significant). Results：The average dental caries prevalence was 17.13％, deft index was 0.57. The caregiver's toothbrushing habits were associated with the child's toothbrushing habits.（p＜.0001）。The average score of caregivers dental health knowledge was 47.50.The average score of caregivers dental health attitude was 66.08. Caregivers who have toothbrushing habits after eating, their knowledge（p＜.0001）and attitude（p=0.0009）were better than those without toothbrushing habits after eating. Conclusion：The caregiver's knowledge, attitude and practices of dental awareness affect children's toothbrushing habits and their dental health deeply. Caregivers play the most important role in the children's home care habits. The dental health education of the mothers and caregivers should be reinforced. This study a documents high prevalence of chldren among 2 to 3 years old in Taiwan. Results indicated an urgent need to increase access to preventive dental services for infants.

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