Assessment of Knowledge Regarding Oral Hygiene Among Parents of Pre-School Children Attending Pediatric Out Patient Department in Dhulikhel Hospital
Assessment of Knowledge Regarding Oral Hygiene Among Parents of Pre-School Children Attending Pediatric Out Patient Department in Dhulikhel Hospital
Assessment of Knowledge Regarding Oral Hygiene Among Parents of Pre-School Children Attending Pediatric Out Patient Department in Dhulikhel Hospital
ABSTRACT
Background
Department of Community Medicine
Department of Nursing
Corresponding Author
Kishor Khanal
Department of Community Medicine
Kathmandu University School of Medical Science
Dhulikhel, Kavre, Nepal
E-mail: [email protected]
Citation
Khanal K, Shrestha D, Ghimire N, Younjan R, Sanjel
S. Assessment of Knowledge Regarding Oral Hygiene
among Parents of Pre-School Children Attending
Pediatric Out Patient Department in Dhulikhel
Hospital. Kathmandu Univ Med J 2015;49(1):38-43.
Level of knowledge regarding oral hygiene among the parents of pre-school children
plays an important role on maintaining the good oral hygiene of their children. In
Nepal, sufficient research has not been carried out on this area.
Objective
Objective of this study is to assess the level of knowledge on oral hygiene of preschool childrens parents attending pediatric outpatient department in Dhulikhel
Hospital.
Method
A descriptive study was conducted from November 2012 to January 2013 among one
hundred parents of preschool children visiting pediatrics outpatient department of
Dhulikhel Hospital. Paper and pencil based semi structured questionnaire was used
for collecting data. Questions related to demographic information and knowledge
were asked. Thirty questions were used for assessing knowledge level. Knowledge
score was calculated by allocating one point for each correct answer and zero
point for each wrong answer. Analyzed data were presented in terms of numbers
and percentages. Total knowledge scores were categorized based on percentage.
Knowledge score was categorized on four group - exclusive intervals - namely-poor
(0-40%), moderate (40-60%), good (60-80%) and excellent (80-100%). Mann-Whitney
U test and Kruskal-Wallis test were applied to check significance difference and chisquare test was used to check association among different background characteristic.
Result
It was found that 81% had moderate knowledge, 15% had poor knowledge and 4%
had good knowledge about oral hygiene. Median knowledge score was found to be
15 with range 10 to 21. Following variables were found to be significant difference
on knowledge category: Education status (p<0.001), education level (p= 0.041), past
experience about oral health problem (p = 0.008), Further significant association was
found between knowledge category and educational status (p < 0.001) and between
knowledge category and past experience (p < 0.001).
Conclusion
Knowledge regarding oral hygiene was found satisfactory among the parents of
preschool children visiting pediatric OPD of Dhulikhel Hospital.
KEY WORDS
Knowledge, oral health, parents, pre-school children
Page 38
Original Article
INTRODUCTION
According to World Health Organization, Oral health is a
state of being free from chronic mouth and facial pain, oral
and throat cancer, oral sores, birth defects such as cleft lip
and palate, periodontal (gum) disease, tooth decay and
tooth loss, and other diseases and disorders that affect the
oral cavity.1 Risk factors for oral diseases include unhealthy
diet, tobacco use, alcohol use, and poor oral hygiene.1 Oral
health means more than just healthy teeth affecting people
physically and psychologically, and how it influences their
growth, function, speech, esthetics, and socialize, as well as
their feelings of social well-being.2 Oral health is important
for good health and well-being of individuals which covers a
range of health promotion and disease prevention concerns.
It is important issue which needs continuing supervision for
the health care professional.3,4 Good oral health habits in
childhood are shaped by parents , especially by mothers.4
In the early childhood years, parents are the primary social
force influencing child development and parents with
higher education have more control on childrens health
behavior compared to low educated parents.5
Children under the age of 5 years generally spend most of
their time with parents and guardians. These early years
involve primary socialization during which the earliest
childhood routines and habits are acquired.6 During the
first three years and pre -school period role of parents is
very important on maintaining good oral health of child
,because they are the main caregivers of oral health.7 This
includes eating and drinking habits of child and healthy
behavior established as norms in the home and it relies on
the knowledge and behavior of parents and elder siblings.7
Besides parents role, some other factors such as maternal
education, occupation and current knowledge also plays
vital role on determining oral health of their children.6 Risk
factors for oral diseases are broadly classified into biological
and social risk factors,8 and social risk factors comprise low
parental education, low socio-economic status and lack of
awareness about dental diseases.9
Among different oral health problems, dental caries is
one of the major problems in the world and World Health
Organization reports 60-90% of schoolchildren worldwide
have experienced dental caries, with the disease being most
prevalent in Asian and Latin American countries.10 In India,
the prevalence of caries among preschool children was
found to be in range of 40-70%.11-14 According to the survey
conducted in Nepal, 58% of 5-6 year old school children
suffer from dental caries.15 Dental caries is a serious public
health problem in developing countries and it begins early
in life which have long term effect on quality of life of the
children and family and is associated with bad oral health
habits.2
Since Nepali children have low level of oral health
awareness and practices as compared to western children,16
and knowledge of parents have direct role on this.3-5 The
objective of this study was to assess what parents already
know about childrens oral health promotion activities
and oral health knowledge and its relationship with sociodemographic characteristic from the sample of parents
of preschool children visiting pediatrics OPD of Dhulikhel
Hospital.
METHODS
A descriptive study was conducted from November 2012
to January 2013 among parents of preschool children (3-6
years of age) visiting pediatrics OPD of Dhulikhel Hospital.
This study has been approved by the Institutional Review
Committee, Kathmandu University School of Medical
Sciences (IRC/KUSMS). Many parents from rural and
urban areas of Kavre and other districts (particularly from
Bhaktapur and Sindhupalanchok) visit this hospital with
their children for checkup and treatment.
Sample size for this study was determined by using
n=Z2pq/d2, where Z = 1.96, value of p is taken as 0. 5,
allowable error (d) = 0.2 and n is required sample size.
Based on these parameters, the required sample size was
96 and taking 4% as non response total 100 parents were
purposively selected and interviewed.
A pretested and paper and pencil based semi structured
questionnaire was used for collecting data which consists
of following parts: Demographic information, Knowledge
regarding general information of oral hygiene, Knowledge
regarding oral hygiene of the children, knowledge regarding
dietary habit of the children and knowledge regarding role
and responsibility of the parents in maintaining oral hygiene
of their children. Interview method (face to face) was used
to collect data.
Prior to interview, informed consent was taken from the
parents and objectives of the study were clearly explained
to them and confidentiality of data was assured to them.
Parents were excluded if they were unable to understand
Nepali language because Nepali language was used during
interview. Collected data were entered on MS-Excel and
analyzed using SPSS version 20. Socio-demographic and
other quantitative data were summarized and presented
using numbers and percentage. Knowledge score was
calculated by allocating one point for each correct answer
and zero point for each wrong answer. Then, calculated
total knowledge scores were divided in four categories
(exclusive class intervals) based on percentage- poor
knowledge (0-40%), moderate knowledge (40-60%), good
knowledge (60-80%) and excellent knowledge (80-100%).10
Further, knowledge score were adjusted and only two
categories were formed; parents having poor knowledge (040%) and parents having moderate or good knowledge (40100%). This was done to simplify our analysis. Further, we
measured association between demographic characteristics
and adjusted knowledge categories using Chi-Square Test.
Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA were
carried out for test of significance of knowledge score
among different demographic characteristic. Throughout
the study, level of significance was set up 0.05.
Page 39
Minimum Knowledge
Score
Maximum Knowledge
Score
Median Score
Interquartile Range
P-Value
Relation
Father
Mother
10
10
20
21
15
15
3
3
0.969*+
Ethnicity
Brahmin
Chhetri
Newar
Tamang
Others
11
12
10
10
12
19
20
21
17
15
16
15
15
15
13
4
2
3
5
2
0.115*++
Agriculture
Business
Service
Housewife
Others
10
13
10
10
11
18
21
20
19
17
14
16
15
15
15
4
1
3
4
4
0.093*++
Yes
No
10
10
21
17
16
15
3
2
0.008**+
Educational Status
Literate
Illiterate
12
10
21
15
16
13
3
2
<0.001 **+
Education
Level
Primary
Lower Secondary
Secondary
Higher Secondary
Bachelors and Above
12
15
15
14
16
17
18
18
19
19
15
16
16
16.5
16.5
0.5
1
1
4
2
0.041**++
Occupation
* Not significant
** Significant
+ Man-Whitney U test
++ Kruskal Wallis H
RESULTS
Among 100 parents, 59% were Mother. Most of the parents
were from Brahmin community (31%) followed by Newar
(28%) and Chhetri (25%). Majority of the parents were from
joint family (51%). Sixty-six percentages of parents were
literate. Out of 59 mothers, most of them are housewives
(34%) and out of 41 fathers most of them have farming
profession (15%) followed by business profession (13%).
More than half ( 58%) of the parents had some experience
about oral health problem of their children and out of them
88% had experience about Dental Caries. Peer group and
friend circle (51%) is the major source of information about
oral hygiene followed by radio/TV (41%). Out of hundred,
32% percent of parents understood that oral hygiene is
cleanness of teeth, gum and tongue. Fifty six percent of
parents said that appropriate age to clean teeth of child
is 1-3 years followed by 4-5 years (29%). All of the parents
agreed that knowledge regarding oral hygiene is important
because it teach them to keep mouth, teeth, and gum
clean. Majority of parents were familiar with oral health
problems, among the problems, Dental Caries was most
familiar oral health problem (91%) among parents
Seventy-Six percent of the respondents said that their kids
brush teeth twice a day followed by once a day (14%) and
more than two times (10%). Thirty-six percent of parents
had heard about fluoride content in toothpaste. Fifteen
percent said fluoridated in toothpaste makes the teeth
strong. About half of the parents (49%) said that teeth
should be brushed 2-3 minutes. When asked about Best
Page 40
time for brushing teeth 75% said that it is after taking lunch
and before going to bed, followed by early morning (16%).
Ninety-three percent said that brush should be changed
regularly. More than half of the parents (52%) said that
brush should be changed every 2-4 months, followed by
after six months (28%). More than two third of the parents
(70%) said appropriate amount of tooth paste for brushing
kids teeth is about the size of a pea followed by 2/3rd size
of the brush (22%).
Regarding main causes of oral/ dental problems, majority
said that having excessive sweet, ice-cream and chocolate
(65%) is the main cause of dental problem followed by not
brushing teeth and not cleaning mouth (53%), and eating
stale food (5%). Majority of the parents (67%) said that
citrus fruits and green leafy vegetables promotes good oral
health followed by meat, fish and cereal (33%).All parents
said that it is necessary to clean/rinse the child mouth after
feeding/having food.
All parents know that it is necessary to educate the child
with oral health hygiene and dental education and all agreed
that parents should guide their children in maintaining
good oral hygiene. Larger proportion of the parents (70%)
said correct way of brushing teeth is upward and downward
direction followed by straight (23%), circular with inner and
outer side (5%) and two percentage dont have any idea.
All parents agreed that knowledge on maintenance of good
oral hygiene improves oral health of their children. If there
is oral health/dental problem, 69% of Parents take their
child to dentist and 31% visit general doctor. All parents
agreed that children should be taken to dentist or doctor
Original Article
for checkup but regarding how often there was variation
on answer as- if necessary (61%), twice a year (20%) and
once a year(19%). All parents said that first dental visit of
the child should be at the age of six months (3%), at one
year (19%), at the age of two years(4%), at the age of three
years(1%), and dont know(73%).
It was found that majority (81%) have moderate knowledge
about oral hygiene followed by poor knowledge (15%) and
good knowledge (4%). According to the study it was found
that 85% of parents have moderate or more than moderate
knowledge but not on excellent level, and 15% of parents
have poor knowledge regarding oral hygiene. Median
knowledge score regarding knowledge about oral hygiene
was found to be 15 with range 10 to 21 whereas total
knowledge score was 30. Following variables were found to
be significant difference on knowledge category: Literacy
(P<0.001), education level (P<0.05) and past experience
about oral health problem (P = 0.008). Further significant
association was found between knowledge category and
educational status (p < 0.001) and between knowledge
category and past experience (p < 0.001).
DISCUSSION
This is one of the few studies carried out in Nepal to
assess the knowledge of pre-school childrens parents
regarding the oral health. A good understanding of
parental knowledge regarding oral health is essential for
improving childrens oral health. Parents oral health related
knowledge are associated with their childrens oral health
and parental level of education has been shown to be one
of the most important determinants for childrens oral
health in many countries.17-19
In this study 100 parents were interviewed, out of them
majority were mother (59%). In similar study carried out
by Chhabra et al. among 620 parents of pre-school children
in India majority were mother (81.3%),20 but in the study
carried out by Thakare et al. in Gujarat, India majority
(67.5%) were father.21 This shows that on some society
father are more active on taking their child on hospital, while
on others mother. Tooth brushing habits, use of fluoridated
toothpaste, frequency and duration of tooth-brushing, are
the most important factors on oral self-care behaviors.
Brushing teeth is the most appropriate and effective oral
hygienic habits. Brushing teeth twice daily after meal
has been accepted recommendation for prevention of
oral diseases and brushing is the most appropriate and
effective oral hygiene habit.22-27 In our study 76% of the
respondents had knowledge that child teeth should be
brushed twice a day which is more higher than the study
done by, Qiu et al. in southern china (67.3%),28 Chhabra et
al. and Babu in India: 11.8% and 42.62% respectively.20,29 In
our study 15% of the respondent said that fluoride makes
the teeth strong, which is smaller compared to the study
done in India on which 30.1% said that fluoride helps to
Page 41
CONCLUSION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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