Knowledge and practice of rural mothers on oral hygiene for children

Abstract

Oral health is a condition in which the mouth and the teeth are healthy and free from any diseases. Improper maintenance of hygiene of the mouth is one of the risk factors for oral diseases. Researches showed that parents are responsible for inculcating good oral hygiene habits in children and mothers are considered to be the most accountable in educating the children about proper oral hygiene. This study was undertaken to explore the knowledge and practice of mothers regarding the importance of oral hygiene for children. A non-experimental descriptive research design was used, and 100 mothers of under-five children were randomly selected from the rural areas of Rajpura in Patiala District, Punjab. A self-structured knowledge questionnaire and practice checklist was used to collect the data. Analysis and interpretation of the data was done according to the objectives of the study using descriptive and inferential statistics. The present study revealed that 58 (58%) respondents had good knowledge and 57 (57%) mothers had average practices regarding the importance of oral hygiene for children. No significant relationship was observed between knowledge and practice scores. There was no significant association between the level of knowledge and the level of practice and socio-demographic variables. The study concluded that there is a lack of knowledge and practice regarding the importance of oral hygiene for children amongst the mothers residing in rural areas.