According to the Dental Association of Turkey, the prevalence of the preschool children having caries and bearing its consequences is over 80%. It is a common known fact that brushing teeth decreases the risk of caries in teeth at a meaningful level. Protection of dental health in early childhoodand giving the habits of keeping the teeth healthy to children are closely related with the knowledge and attitudes of mothers. Our purpose in this study is to determine the levels of information on dental and oral health of the mothers who applied to Sıtmapınarı Family Health Center in the city of Malatya with 2-4-year-old children. It is also aimed in this study that the applications and the factors that affect them are defined in this context as well. The study has the quality of being a definitive one, and has been conducted with the mothers having children between the ages 2-4 who applied to Sıtmapınarı Family Health Center. A questionnaire consisting of 21 questions was applied to 331 mothers. The questionnaire form included questions on the socio-demographic characteristics of the mothers as well as their information levels on the applications on oral and dental health.In the analyses of the data, the Chi-Square Test, Unpaired T Test and One Way Anova Tests were used. 40,5% of the children of the mothers who participated in our study brush their teeth. The rate of knowing that the toothpaste must include fluorine among the mothers has been determined as 24,8%; and the rate of knowing why the fluorine is added to the toothpastes has been determined as 28,2%. 33,2% of the mothers are inclined to check the food of their children with the same spoon their children are using during the meal, which makes it easier for caries to appear. The educational level, socio-economic status, working or not working of mother, brushing their own teeth or not influenced the brushing the teeth behavior of the children and the knowledge levels of the mothers on dental and oral health(p0,05). In conclusion, wrong applications that influence the oral and dental health in a bad way are very common, and must be fought against. Mothers must be informed on the reasons of the fluorine gel and polisher agents, and also on the importance of brushing teeth.
Key words: Dental health in children, protection from caries, information level, mothers
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