Oral Health of Pre-School Aged Children in Dhanbad District, Jharkhand, India- A Peek into their Mother's Attitude.

INTRODUCTION Mothers are directly responsible for the dental health of their children and play a major role in shaping the dental health behaviors of their children. They also play an important role in preventing oral diseases in them. OBJECTIVE To assess the level of attitude of mothers in relation to their pre-school aged children, which in turn can influence the level of oral health. METHOD A cross-sectional study was carried out among 312 mothers, selected randomly from eight blocks of Dhanbad district, Jharkhand, India. They were administered with a structured questionnaire on attitude, by an interviewer. RESULTS The overall data indicated that the attitude of mothers about oral health in their pre-school children increased as their age increased which was not statistically significant (p>.066). Mothers who had less than higher secondary school education and belonged to socio-economically lower groups had poor knowledge of oral health which was statistically significant (p<.001). CONCLUSION Mothers should be motivated so that their attitude about their child's oral health is enhanced which in turn would improve their oral health related quality of life.