Naslov
Influence of oral hygiene knowledge and habits on dental fear in Croatian preschool children

Autori
Jurić, Hrvoje ; Matošić, Željana ; Novačić, Ana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
57th ORCA Congress

Mjesto i datum
Montpellier, Francuska, 07.07.2010. - 10.07.2010

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
preschool children; dental fear; oral hygiene

Sažetak
Preschool age is defined as the time from age 3 to age 6. This period in a child’s life is when important attitudes and oral hygiene habits are developed, and dental fear can be a severely limiting factor in dental health maintenance. The aim of the present study was to assess oral hygiene habits and the quality of dental fear in Croatian preschool children, and to try to define statistically significant differences, with respect to age, sex and geographical background. The research was conducted by a questionnaire method on 796 preschool children (391 boys and 405 girls), aged 3-6 years (mean = 4.96 years), in two big cities located in different geographical areas (Split - coast or south area, and Zagreb - continental or north area of Croatia). Statistical data processing was conducted by implementing the χ2 – test. Results show that there is a difference in oral hygiene habits between children in Zagreb and Split. Children in Zagreb had better oral hygiene habits (P=0.001). Different age and gender also had an influence on the results ; the older the children the less the parents participated in maintaining their children’s oral hygiene (P<0.001), while girls had better oral hygiene habits. On daily basis 89.7% of girls and 81.5% of boys brush their teeth. This study also demonstrated that children are mostly afraid of the dental drill (50.9 % of children with dental fear). Furthermore, dental fear is not necessarily related to previous experiences. This research has shown that the level of oral hygiene and oral hygiene habits in preschool children in Croatia is unsatisfactory. This might be due to a low dental health awareness in parents and their children and a collapse of adequate funding of the primary preventive health care system in Croatia.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Dentalna medicina

POVEZANOST RADA