Caries Status of Children and Oral Health Behavior, Knowledge and Attitude of Their Mothers and Schoolteachers in Mathura City

Abstract

ABSTRACTAimThe study was undertaken to assess the caries status in children of 1st (6 years) and 6th grade (12 years) and knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of mothers and schoolteachers in Mathura city.Materials and MethodsA total of 872 mothers, 140 schoolteachers, 500 children of grade I and 500 children of grade VI participated in the study. Clinical examinations of grades I and grade VI children were performed. Data on mothers and teachers were collected through personal interviews and selfadministered questionnaires respectively. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.ResultsAt the age of 6 and 12, the mean decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index was 2.4 and 1.3 respectively. Mothers showed a fair level of knowledge (74.9%) and favorable attitude (70.6%), while maximum schoolteachers showed a good level of knowledge (67.9%) and favorable attitude (57.1%) toward oral health. Schoolteachers, dentists and television were found to be the most important source of dental health information among the schoolteachers and mothers.ConclusionIt is concluded from the study that oral health knowledge of mothers and teachers were found to be fair and good respectively. The schoolteachers knew about the poor dental conditions in children and wanted to become involved in oral health education. Training of the teachers should aim at improving their level of knowledge on oral health.How to cite this articleHaloi R, Ingle NA, Kaur N. Caries Status of Children and Oral Health Behavior, Knowledge and Attitude of Their Mothers and Schoolteachers in Mathura City. J Contemp Dent 2012;2(3):78-83.