Pengaruh Pendidikan Kesehatan Terhadap Perilaku Orang Tua Tentang Kesehatan Gigi Anak Usia Pra Sekolah Di Raudhatul Athfal Guppi Kalak Pacitan

The upkeep of preschoolers’ oral hygiene is closely intertwined with parental awareness and everyday practices. This investigation sought to examine whether health instruction could alter parents’ conduct in safeguarding the oral health of young children enrolled at Raudhatul Athfal Guppi Kalak, Pacitan Regency. A quantitative approach was adopted through a one-group pre-experimental design involving assessments before and after the intervention. Thirty-eight parents were recruited through random sampling. The educational intervention combined instructional sessions with practical demonstrations using dental models. Parental behavior was measured through a questionnaire, and the resulting data were examined using a paired-samples t-test. Initially, 57.9% of participants demonstrated behavioral patterns classified as moderate. Following the intervention, 81.6% attained the good-behavior category. Statistical analysis revealed a significant pre-to-post intervention difference. These findings suggest that structured oral-health instruction may serve as a useful means of encouraging more favorable parental practices in children’s dental care. Nevertheless, the absence of a comparison group warrants caution when attributing the observed changes solely to the intervention.