title: Oral hygiene habits, dental home, and toothbrushing among immigrant and native low socioeconomic class populations.
abstract: About 45,000 people immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia over the last 30 years. The purpose of this study was to compare oral hygiene habits in preschool children from low socioeconomic neighborhoods offspring of immigrants from Ethiopia to offspring of native Israelis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parents of children attending 21 nursery schools were asked to respond anonymously to 7 questions about their children's visits to a dentist and toothbrushing habits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents of 719 children (382 Ethiopian and 337 native Israeli) responded. Of children aged 49-82 months, 15% offspring of Ethiopian and 25% of native Israelis were reported to have visited a dentist; and 45% and 65%, respectively, to brush their teeth at least once daily. More than 90% of children of both populations were reported to have toothbrushes. Of children aged 18-48 months, 28% of Ethiopian and 65% of native Israelis were reported to brush their teeth at least once daily.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After more than 20 years residence in a new country, the dental home of an immigrant population was significantly different from that of the native population, of the same low socioeconomic neighborhoods. Discrepancies in parental responses highlight the importance of addressing information bias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, The Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel P.O.B 12272, 91120. dr-st@012.net.il
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Davidovich
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kooby
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shapira
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ram
mesh_terms: D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012923:Social Class; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*