Level of knowledge of mothers with children aged 3 to 6 years about cariogenic diet habits

Introduction: good oral health has an essential impact throughout the human life cycle. The correct eating habits have proven to be effective on good oral health, where cariogenic diet is of fundamental interest. Objective: to describe the level of knowledge about cariogenic diet of mothers with children between 3 and 6 years old, dancers at the Stone Dance Academy in Ecuador. Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out; the universe was constituted of mothers (n=25) with children between 3 and 6 years of age, involved all of them in the research. The following variables were defined: criteria they took into account when choosing food for children, oral hygiene care they maintained in children, frequency of carbohydrates, first dental consultation, diagnosis given at the dentist's office, and which was the reason why the mothers not taken their children to their first dental visit. A Likert-type questionnaire was used for the information collected. Results: the 75% of mothers relied on a nutritional table when choosing the food for their children intake. The 25% reported not reading a nutritional table due to lack of time and 32% reported consuming food away from home on weekends. The 20% 20 % did not brush their children's teeth. At the first dental check-up, 60% indicated that they already had caries, 50% had never been attended such a consultation, where from them 30% reported never been attend due to low income. Conclusions: the level of knowledge about cariogenic diet in mothers with children from 3 to 6 years of age is insufficient