Level of Knowledge about Oral Health of Parents and its Relationship with Oral Hygiene Habits of their Children from 8 to 10 Years Old.

Objective: To determine the relationship between the level of knowledge in oral health of parents with the oral hygiene habits of their children from 8 to 10 years old. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was applied to a sample of 200 parents (70% male and 70% 24-40 years old) and their respective children (52.5 male; 44% 8 years old) from two private schools in Lima. in 2021. Two questionnaires were applied, one of 20 oral health knowledge items addressed to parents and another of 4 oral hygiene items applied to their children. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal Wallis tests with a significance level of P<0.05. Results: Most presented a regular level of oral hygiene habits (59%) and knowledge of oral health (53%). Age of the child was related to the frequency of daily brushing (P=0.004) and oral hygiene items (P=0.0024), while the level of education of the parents was related to the level of oral health knowledge (P=0.000). Higher levels of parental knowledge were associated with higher levels of oral hygiene over weekly tooth brushing frequency (P=0.012).

Conclusion: Both oral hygiene and the level of knowledge in oral health were regular, showing a positive relationship with a higher frequency of weekly brushing.