earticle

영어

The research focuses on how a mother's oral health knowledge and behavior influence her child's oral health condition. In June of 2010, three kindergartens were randomly selected in Busan. To learn the dental caries status of primary teeth by children from age 4 to 6, a trained investigator performed oral examination, then selected 204 children and their mothers as objects of this study. Questionnaires - about mothers' oral health knowledge and behavior and children's oral health behavior - were handed out and collected via kindergartens. Collected data was analyzed using SPSS 12.0. 1. Mothers of a boy tended to have high level of oral health knowledge. At the same time, boys had less number of decayed or filled primary teeth than girls. Children with workless mothers and children brought up in a household with large monthly income tended to show less number of decayed or filled primary teeth. However, the difference was insignificant. 2. When categorized according to children's age, mothers of a 4-year-old child showed high level of oral health knowledge. Also, the number of decayed and filled primary teeth showed a result (p<.001) proportional to children's age. 3. Children showed less number of decayed and filled primary teeth (p<.05) when their mothers have had any experience on scaling for the prevention of oral diseases. Furthermore, children who visits a dentist for purpose of preventive treatment showed less number of decayed and filled primary teeth (p<.001). According to results of the study, Mother's oral health knowledge and behavior are important influencing factors on children's oral health. One can also see that mother's attention to her child works as an important factor.