רפואת הפה והשיניים - עיתון ההסתדרות לרפואת שיניים בישראל - כרך ל"ז, גיליון מס' 2 אייר תש"פ

conducted in Israel, found gaps in KOH among educated Israeli Jewish mothers of 1-4 year old toddlers (16). The mothers demonstrated significant gaps in knowledge about issues that affect their children’s oral health (16). To our best knowledge, no comprehensive survey of maternal KOH among the ethnic minorities in Israel has been conducted before. Since ECC prevalence among children from the Arab sector in Israel is high (10), gathering data regarding maternal KOH is of great importance in order to help devise better preventive strategies and educational programs specifically targeted to this population. Materials and methods The aim of this paper was to assess the level of knowledge about oral health among mothers of toddlers aged 1-4 years from the Arab-sector in Israel. The study was approved by the ethics (Helsinki) committee of Tel Aviv University, Israel and was conducted in full accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. The study participants were mothers of children aged 1-4 years old from the city of Tamra, which is a city located in a rural region in north of Israel and is populated by minority citizens from the Arab sector. The mothers responded to a maternal KOH questionnaire. Their children’s preschool teachers distributed the questionnaires to the mothers. A written explanation about the research was sent with the questionnaire. The questionnaire The questionnaire was based on a KOH maternal questionnaire that was answered by mothers in a study conducted on mothers from the Jewish sector living in the center of Israel (13). The questionnaire was translated to Arabic by an Arabic speaking researcher (H.H). The questionnaire was comprised of three parts. Part 1 consisted of items that pertained to the general demographics, such as mother’s age, mother’s education

(<12 years or >12 years), frequency of dental visits by the mother (on a regular basis or not), the child’s age and gender, the number of children in the family, and the child’s birth order. Also queried was the mother’s main source of information about pediatric dentistry (dentist, media or friends). Part 2 was a 12-item questionnaire pertaining to pediatric KOH (Figure 1). Part 3 ranked six selected food items according to their carcinogenicity. Statistical analysis The data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical package for the social sciences) version 23.0. The bivariate analysis was performed by the Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests. Food item ranking was analyzed using the Holm- Benferroni comparison test. Results One hundred and seventy mothers (average age 31.7± 6.2) responded the questionnaires. Table 1 summarizes the biographical details of the participants. The average score of the 12-item questionnaire was 29.8 ± 14. Figure 2 illustrates the percentage of mothers who answered the questions correctly. Mother’s knowledge regarding issues concerning their children’s oral hygiene was diverse. Most of the mothers (78.2%) knew that it is necessary to replace the toothbrush every 3 months, but only 44.7% of them knew that the child’s teeth should be brushed twice a day. Twenty-three mothers (13.5%) thought that there is no need to brush their children’s teeth at all. Only 29.4% of the mothers replied that the correct amount of toothpaste is “pea-sized”, while almost half of them (48.8%) replied that that the toothbrush’s head should be covered completely by toothpaste. The majority of the mothers (56.4%) believed that the child should brush his own teeth following his parent’s demonstration. Only three mothers answered that the parents themselves should brush their child’s teeth. As for the proper concentration of fluoride in the toddler’s toothpaste, the majority of the mothers (69.5%) replied

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The Journal of the Israel Dental Association, vol. 37, No. 2, April 2020.