Parental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards children’s oral habits: a descriptive cross-sectional study
Background: Oral health is fundamental to children’s health and well-being. Parental knowledge, awareness, and practices towards oral habits significantly influence children’s oral health. Early diagnosis and intervention to break abnormal oral habits are vital to prevent long-term detrimental effe...
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| Format: | Article |
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Medical Journals Sweden
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Acta Odontologica Scandinavica |
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| Online Access: | https://medicaljournalssweden.se/actaodontologica/article/view/42643 |
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| author | Sarah Almugairin Alanoud Alwably Nada Alayed Alanoud Algazlan Hadeel Alrowaily Elzahraa Eldwakhly Abdullazez Almudhi |
| author_facet | Sarah Almugairin Alanoud Alwably Nada Alayed Alanoud Algazlan Hadeel Alrowaily Elzahraa Eldwakhly Abdullazez Almudhi |
| author_sort | Sarah Almugairin |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Background: Oral health is fundamental to children’s health and well-being. Parental knowledge, awareness, and practices towards oral habits significantly influence children’s oral health. Early diagnosis and intervention to break abnormal oral habits are vital to prevent long-term detrimental effects on oral and facial development. Objective: This study aimed to assess parents’ knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards their children’s oral habits in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed, where 2,000 participants were enrolled, of whom 563 Saudi mothers residing in Riyadh met the inclusion criteria. A validated, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, child information, parental awareness, and parental attitudes.
Results: Regarding awareness, moderate overall awareness was reported among mothers, with the majority (over 70%) correctly identifying the negative effects of prolonged pacifier/bottle use and other habits on children’s oral health. As for the attitudes, most mothers recognized the importance of stopping sucking habits (digit and/or pacifier) by 18 months and agreed that persistent oral habits cause malocclusion and growth problems. However, a significant gap existed between knowledge and practice, with most mothers (92.9%) never consulting a dentist regarding their child’s ongoing oral habits. Mothers with higher education levels reported encouraging their children to stop habits and documented improvements observed after habit cessation.
Conclusions: Although most mothers demonstrated moderate awareness of the detrimental effects of prolonged oral habits, a clear gap remains between knowledge and practice. This study emphasizes the need for educational programs to improve parental knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding children’s oral habits. Additionally, addressing cultural beliefs and cost barriers to dental treatment could increase the utilization of dental services, improving children’s oral health.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c7e967f267f34598ada610cbdeddd9d9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0001-6357 1502-3850 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Medical Journals Sweden |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Odontologica Scandinavica |
| spelling | doaj-art-c7e967f267f34598ada610cbdeddd9d92025-01-30T13:45:31ZengMedical Journals SwedenActa Odontologica Scandinavica0001-63571502-38502025-01-018410.2340/aos.v84.42643Parental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards children’s oral habits: a descriptive cross-sectional studySarah Almugairin0Alanoud Alwably1Nada Alayed2Alanoud Algazlan3Hadeel Alrowaily4Elzahraa Eldwakhly5Abdullazez Almudhi6Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Dentistry, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiDepartment of Oral medicine and pathology, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaCollege of Dentistry, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Oral and maxillofacial surgery, Security forces hospital, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Clinical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Background: Oral health is fundamental to children’s health and well-being. Parental knowledge, awareness, and practices towards oral habits significantly influence children’s oral health. Early diagnosis and intervention to break abnormal oral habits are vital to prevent long-term detrimental effects on oral and facial development. Objective: This study aimed to assess parents’ knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards their children’s oral habits in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed, where 2,000 participants were enrolled, of whom 563 Saudi mothers residing in Riyadh met the inclusion criteria. A validated, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, child information, parental awareness, and parental attitudes. Results: Regarding awareness, moderate overall awareness was reported among mothers, with the majority (over 70%) correctly identifying the negative effects of prolonged pacifier/bottle use and other habits on children’s oral health. As for the attitudes, most mothers recognized the importance of stopping sucking habits (digit and/or pacifier) by 18 months and agreed that persistent oral habits cause malocclusion and growth problems. However, a significant gap existed between knowledge and practice, with most mothers (92.9%) never consulting a dentist regarding their child’s ongoing oral habits. Mothers with higher education levels reported encouraging their children to stop habits and documented improvements observed after habit cessation. Conclusions: Although most mothers demonstrated moderate awareness of the detrimental effects of prolonged oral habits, a clear gap remains between knowledge and practice. This study emphasizes the need for educational programs to improve parental knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding children’s oral habits. Additionally, addressing cultural beliefs and cost barriers to dental treatment could increase the utilization of dental services, improving children’s oral health. https://medicaljournalssweden.se/actaodontologica/article/view/42643Oral habitspreventionparental awarenesspediatric dentistrypacifierbehavior guidance |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Almugairin Alanoud Alwably Nada Alayed Alanoud Algazlan Hadeel Alrowaily Elzahraa Eldwakhly Abdullazez Almudhi Parental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards children’s oral habits: a descriptive cross-sectional study Acta Odontologica Scandinavica Oral habits prevention parental awareness pediatric dentistry pacifier behavior guidance |
| title | Parental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards children’s oral habits: a descriptive cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Parental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards children’s oral habits: a descriptive cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Parental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards children’s oral habits: a descriptive cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Parental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards children’s oral habits: a descriptive cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Parental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards children’s oral habits: a descriptive cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | parental knowledge awareness and attitudes towards children s oral habits a descriptive cross sectional study |
| topic | Oral habits prevention parental awareness pediatric dentistry pacifier behavior guidance |
| url | https://medicaljournalssweden.se/actaodontologica/article/view/42643 |
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