Maternal dental health knowledge and its relation to the dental caries experience of their children in Mamyzawa camp of refugees in Erbil, Iraq

Objectives. This study aimed to evaluate the mothers’ dental health knowledge and its relation to their children’s oral health behavior and\practice in a camp of refugees. Method. This descriptive cross-sectional observational study was conducted in Mamyzawa refugee camp in Erbil City, Iraq, in November 2017. Seventy-nine preschoolers (43 aged 4 years and 36 aged 5 years) and their mothers (79) were chosen for this study. The study was accomplished in two days. The first day the mothers’ oral health knowledge, children’s behavior towards oral hygiene, eating behaviors of their children and their use of dental services were assessed by a questionnaire. The day after, examinations of the dental health status of the children were performed. SPSS statistics software was used to analyze the collected data. Results. Mothers’ knowledge of oral health was low, and 63% of the children had dental caries. Fiveyear old children had more dental caries (77.8%) than the four-year old (51.20 %). Frequency of sweet consumption, brushing assistance, and irregular use of dental services were the main factors that had relation to the high dental caries in those children. Conclusion. The mothers living in Mamyzawa refugee camp do not have enough knowledge of oral health, which was led to high caries prevalence among their children, indicating that an intensive education program is required for the mothers and oral health care for their childre