The Effect of Education on Parents' Knowledge and Attitudes in Oral Health and Early Childhood Caries of Children Under 5 Years at Tehran Azad Dental School (2023-2024)

Aali, Narges; Rashidian, Ali; Karimi, Yousef; Afzal Soltani, Sanaz

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Volume 22, Issue 4 (jrds 2025)

J Res Dent Sci 2025, 22(4): 292-299

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The Effect of Education on Parents' Knowledge and Attitudes in Oral Health and Early Childhood Caries of Children Under 5 Years at Tehran Azad Dental School (2023-2024)

Narges Aali

, Ali Rashidian

, Yousef Karimi

, Sanaz Afzal Soltani ^*

Department of Pediatric Dentistry, TeMS.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran & - , dr.s.afzalsoltani@yahoo.com

Abstract: (178 Views)

Background and Aim:Children's oral health behaviors are influenced by their parents. Educating parents can significantly impact their awareness and practices concerning their children's oral health. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of education on parents' knowledge and attitudes.
Materials and methods: In this interventional study with a pre-test/post-test design, 100 parents of children visiting the pediatric department of the Dental School at Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, were enrolled. The parents were randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. They completed a questionnaire consisting of three sections: demographic information, knowledge, and attitude. The control group received routine oral health education from the pediatric department. The intervention group received the same routine education plus additional educational content provided via a pamphlet. Two weeks later, both groups completed the same questionnaire again. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and T-tests in SPSS software version 25. A significance level of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Among the participants, there were 73 females and 27 males. No significant differences were found in the demographic characteristics between the two groups (p>0.05). Before the intervention, no significant difference was observed in the knowledge and attitude scores between the two groups (p>0.05). After the educational intervention, the mean scores of knowledge and attitude increased significantly in both groups; however, this increase was significantly greater in the intervention group compared to the control group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate the positive effect of education on improving parents' knowledge and attitudes regarding children's oral health.

Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Oral health, Dental caries, pamphlet

Full-Text [PDF 553 kb] (163 Downloads)

Type of Study: original article | Subject: Pediatrics

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Aali N, Rashidian A, Karimi Y, Afzal Soltani S. The Effect of Education on Parents' Knowledge and Attitudes in Oral Health and Early Childhood Caries of Children Under 5 Years at Tehran Azad Dental School (2023-2024). J Res Dent Sci 2025; 22 (4) :292-299
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