RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE OF PARENTS ABOUT ORAL HYGIENE AND DENTAL DECAY

Objective: This research work aimed to assess the relationship between the parent’s knowledge about the oral health and their children’s dental caries. Methodology: This transverse research work carried out in Faisalabad. The oral examination of three hundred and ninety-nine children getting education in the private schools, performed to evaluate the status of their dental caries. We used a self-organized questionnaire to check the parent’s awareness about the oral health. Results: There were 49.0% male & 51.0% females in this research work. The occurrence of the dental caries was about 70.0% with an average score of DMFT as 1.40 was much high in female in comparison with the male boys. There was an increase in the dental caries with the increase of the age from 12 to 15 years. Parents were present with the knowledge that regular checkups by dentist are good for the prevention of the dental caries but most of the patients were visiting the doctors when there was severe pain in the teeth. Conclusion: Current research work discovered that there was high prevalence of the dental caries among girls as compared to the boys. The awareness of the parents about the oral health of the children can impact the oral health of their children. There should be an arrangement of the programs to increase the awareness of oral health for the increase in knowledge of parents and their children. Keywords: Dentist, methodology, DMFT, relationship, comparison, prevalence, occurrence, programs, prevention, caries