Maternal knowledge, attitude and practices regarding oral health of preschool children in Udupi taluk, Karnataka, India

Dental Caries is most prevalent dental affliction of childhood. The oral health of the preschool children is linked to maternal oral health related knowledge, attitude and practices.This study assessed and compared the maternal knowledge, attitude and practices regarding oral health of 3-5 year old anganwadi and day care centre children in Udupi taluk. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 825 mothers of pre-school children, 422 from anganwadi centers and 403 from day care centre of Udupi. Data was collected using a structured proforma. Among the anganwadi mothers, 53.6% had low knowledge, 69.2% exhibited negative attitude and 61.4% follow poor practices regarding deciduous dentition of their preschool children. Among the day care centre mothers, majority of mothers of day care children had either medium (40.7%) or high (42.4%) knowledge scores. More than two-third of day care mothers (68.2%) had positive attitude and 62.8% of day care mothers had good practice scores Even though day care mothers had better knowledge, positive attitude and follow good practices as compared to anganwadi mothers, still there is a need to enlighten and make them aware regarding the importance of deciduous dentition.