Mother's Dental Health Behavior with Dental and Oral Hygiene Status in Early Childhood: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Early childhood is a group that is susceptible to dental disease, especially dental caries, so it needs special attention to prevent it. Dental caries in milk teeth that are not treated will result in disruption of masticatory function and premature tooth loss which causes abnormal eruption of permanent teeth. One of the reasons for this is poor oral and dental hygiene due to the fact that at that age they do not have independence in maintaining dental health. Therefore, the mother's role is very important in early childhood dental health. Objective: This study aims to analyze the relationship between maternal dental health behavior with dental and oral hygiene status of early childhood. Methods: This study is an observational analytic study with a cross-sectional approach. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling, with 222 respondents consisting of 111 mothers and 111 early childhood children. Data analysis using Chi-square test. Results: Knowledge of dental health, attitudes and practices of mothers on the dental and oral hygiene status of early childhood showed a p-value of 0.001 (p < 0.05). Conclusion: there is a significant relationship between mother dental health behavior on dental and oral hygiene status of early childhood