Kuwaiti parents' knowledge of oral health and its relationship to the caries experience of their children
Date
2001
DOI
Authors
Aldeeweli, Waleed
Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
There were three purposes to this study: 1) to determine the prevalence of dental caries in Kuwaiti children; 2) to determine the level of oral hygiene of Kuwaiti children; and 3) to determine parents’ knowledge of good oral health.
Three hundred (300) school children in the third year class of intermediate public schools located in the five school districts in Kuwait were selected by proportional sampling as subjects for the study. The subjects were examined to determine their dental caries experience, the presence of pit and fissure sealants, and the levels of oral hygiene, gingivitis, malocclusion and dental trauma.
A 26-item survey questionnaire was sent to the children’s parents to determine the parents’ knowledge about oral health. The questions, mostly y multiple choice, sought specific information about the child’s oral hygiene, oral care habits, dental services utilization, and general information about preventing dental caries, improving the child’s oral health status, and the parents’ level of satisfaction with dental services in Kuwait.
The mean of DMFS of all participating children was 3.5 and the DMFT was 2.6. Caries-free children were 8.3%. Only 32.6% of examined children had dental sealant. The simplified oral hygiene index mean of all children was 1.15. About 63.9% of the children had mild to moderate gingivitis. Slight to serious malocclusion was reported in 69.9% of the children, had 20% had Class I trauma-a simple fracture involving little or no dentin.
Analysis of the data from the oral exam and the parental questionnaire indicates that children whose parents were aware of their oral health status tended to have less carried than children whose parents did not. Compared to similar data collected in 1993 where mean DMFT was 2.5,the mean DMFT of the study was 2.6, suggesting that school-based prevention and treatment dental programs succeed in stabilizing the dental caries rate. However, the mean DMFS (3.5) in this study is lower than the mean number of DMFS (4.6) recorded in 1993 suggesting a reduction in affected surfaces.
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Thesis (D.Sc.D.)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2001.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-85).
Thesis (D.Sc.D.)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2001.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-85).
License
This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact open-help@bu.edu.