Oral health knowledge, attitudes and preventive practices of third grade school children.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of study was to investigate the oral health knowledge, attitudes and preventive practices of third grade school children in Harris County.


METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, oral health knowledge, attitudes, and preventive practices of the children were investigated by means of a self-administered, bilingual questionnaire. Three calibrated examiners collected data on dental caries, periodontitis, and fluorosis of 1,031 school children.


RESULTS
Most children reported "fairly adequate" oral hygiene habits (58%) and oral health knowledge (48%), and "adequate" dietary patterns (59%). Children with inadequate oral health knowledge were twice as likely to have caries than children with adequate knowledge (OR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.29, 3.28). The mean combined DMFT/dft scores of children with inadequate knowledge were significantly higher than the mean for children with adequate knowledge (t = 2.6, P = 0.009).


CONCLUSIONS
Results indicate a need to improve oral health knowledge and preventive practices among the study population. Because of the cross-sectional nature of the study, it is not possible to illustrate a cause-effect relationship between oral health education and prevalence of caries.
Oliveira
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Department of Dental Public Health and Dental Hygiene, University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center, USA.
Narendran
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S
Williamson
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D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004032:Diet; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006267:Health Education, Dental; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires