Primary teeth importance and dental care of children among mothers in Saudi Arabia: Knowledge and awareness assessment

Background: Parent's belief and attitude about children's oral health is very crucial to enhance their children's oral health. Mothers can help their children establish dental care habits if they are well acquainted with oral prevention and diseases techniques. The purpose of this study was to measure mothers' knowledge and awareness of primary teeth and their value in the lives of their children. Methods: A-cross-sectional study was carried out through self-administered questionnaire which distributed to around 841 mothers in different regions in Saudi Arabia. Information regarding, mother education, children's oral habits and dental preventive measures was obtained. Data was entered using the Office Excel program (2016) for windows. The data was then transferred to the Statistical Package of Social Science Software (SPSS) version 20 program. Result: A total of 841 participants who responded for the questionnaire. The mean age of the study participants was 34.29 +/- 9.43 years. 40.8 percent of the subjects were employed. 73.7% of the participants were having a university education, 88.8% are having Saudi nationality. Majority (45.9%) were from eastern region. Out of these 841 participants 43 were not considered as they were not having children. So, final sample size considered for the study was 798 (95.9%). Conclusion: In the current study, caregivers have favourable partial understanding deciduous teeth and their worth. Through kids' oral programs with active parental engagement, there is a need to nurture and reinforce good attitudes, as well as significantly enhance their dental awareness.