Evaluation of parents'knowledge level regarding the oral hygiene habits of patients ages 0-6 years who visited the dentist for the first time

Due to its higher prevalence, early childhood caries continue to be one of the greatest community health problems. It is crucial to prevent this desease with accurate oral hygiene practices and regular dental checkups. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the time and reasons for first dentist visits of children aged 0 to 6 years, as well as oral hygiene practices of these children and their parents' level of knowledge and consciousness concerning oral and dental health. The study included 355 pediatric patients aged 0 to 6 years who came to the dental clinic for dental examination and treatment. Intraoral examinations were performed and dmft scores were recorded. Then a survey including a total of five main parts and 27 multiple-choice questions was performed to the parents. The first part of the survey form included information about the patients such as age and gender. The second part included sociodemographic characteristics of the families. the third part included the reasons for coming to the clinic. The fourth part included oral hygiene habits of the children. The final part included questions about the parents' level of knowledge and consciousness concerning dental health and oral hygiene and the resources they had obtained that knowledge from. As a result of the study, the mean age of the patients was found to be 4.5 years. 51.0% of the patients were male and 49.0% were female. The most frequent reasons to come to the dentist were decay (49.6%) and pain (34.1%), respectively. Moreover, 13 patients had come for apsis (3.7%) and one patient for trauma. The median dmft score was 6 and the scores ranged from 0 to 20. Of the patients, 8.5% had not started toothbrushing yet, 7.4% had started toothbrushing after age one and 62.8% after age two. Of the patients brushing their teeth, 16.6% received no help from their parents with toothbrushing, 51.4% used fluorine toothpaste and 89.2% used a manual toothbrush. The parents' mean success score of knowledge and consciousness concerning oral and dental health was found to be 55.5 (15.6-100.0). In addition, the children of the parents with a higher level of education had lower dmft scores and they came to the dentist for routine examination more often. As a consequence, it was determined that prevalence of tooth decay was higher among preschool children and they had deficiencies in their brushing habits. The most frequent reason to come to the clinic was presence of decay. As the parents' level of education increased, children's mean dmft scores decreased and their brushing habits became better. In the light of these findings, it was suggested that awareness be raised among families and routine dental checkups be made regularly to prevent early childhood caries. Keywords: Attitude, oral health, parents, toothbrushing