Evaluation of Parental Awareness and Knowledge Level About Children's Oral Habits: A Survey Study

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to determine parents' awareness of malocclusions that may arise from oral habits in their children and the relationship of this awareness with the sociodemographic characteristics of the family. Materials and Methods: The questionnaire consisting of 16 questions was applied to 501 parents who were referred to the pediatric dentistry clinic. The questionnaire consisted of questions about the sociodemographic characteristics of the parents, their level of knowledge about oral habits and the way they accessed information. The questionnaire was created by editing Melo et al.'s questionnaire, it was modified in Turkish according to the Turkish cultural structure. Eight questions included in the scoring. The correct answer score for each question was “1”. Comparisons in paired groups were performed with two independent samples t-test, in multiple groups were made with the ANOVA test. Duncan's multiple comparison(post-hoc) test was used in order to determine the groups with a difference. Results: A significant difference was found between the education level of the parents and the correct answer score(4.9point) of oral habit(p<0.05). It has been determined that parents don’t have adequate information about oral habits. Parents are more knowledgeable about the possible effects of pacifier use(64.1%) in oral habits than other habits. In current study, there is a lack of knowledge about bottle use, clenching, and mouth breathing. 50.7% of the parents were not informed about oral habits before. Conclusions: Lack of knowledge of parents on oral habits will lead to the need for long and costly orthodontic treatment in the future. Therefore, parent education should be provided during the examinations made by pediatric dentists and pediatricians. It would be beneficial to add this information training to routine public health programs.