Mother’s awareness towards their children’s oral health in Kurnool, India

Introduction Mother's awareness towards their children’s oral health is essential for behavioural changes, disease prevention and oral health promotion. Material and Methods A cross-sectional study with a 17 item self-administered questionnaire was collected from the mothers of school children aged 1-14years age group. The study consists of demographic variables such as age of mother and child, mother’s education, total family income and the questionnaire consists of questions relating to oral health awareness. Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 was used for data analysis which includes demographic statistics, chi-square tests and one- way ANOVA to assess the comparison among variables with a level of awareness. p<0.05 was set as statistical significance. Results The meanage of the mothers was 31.71 ± 4.6 years. A greater number of respondents had a high level of awareness towards oral health (61%). On comparison, mothers who had education other than primary school education and all income groups had a significantly higher proportion of high levels of awareness. On assessing mean awareness scores, 40-49years age group of mothers had significantly higher mean scores (14.76 ± 2.37; p=0.03). Similarly, significantly higher mean scores were observed among mothers who had professional degree (14.49 ± 2.19; p= 0.001) and with total family income of ≥ 126,360 INR (14.94 ± 2.82; p=0.01) for the levels of awareness towards their children’s oral health. Conclusion Mother’s had a high level of awareness towards their children's oral health. Key Words Awareness, Children, Mothers, Oral Health