Despite the importance of conducting regular epidemiological surveys to monitor dental health in lower socio-economic
citizens especially of preschool children, only few papers were published respectively. The aims of this study were to
describe preschool children's and their mother's dental caries experiences and to describe mothers' knowledge and
behaviors' towards dental health in a suburb area near the capital city of Indonesia. The samples were 152 mother-child
pairs with children age less than 5 years old. Intra oral examination by decay-missing-filling-teeth index was performed.
Moreover, interviews were conducted to gain information regarding mothers’ oral health behavior and knowledge. 70%
children had caries with mean dmf-t = 3.7, consisting 100% of component decay. 90% mothers had caries with DMFT=
7.8, consisting 99% of component decay. More than 50% of mothers had low knowledge and behaviors towards
dental health, which comprises of: (1) never checked their children’s dental health, (2) starting to clean their child's
teeth after child's age is more than 1 years old, (3) don’t know that caries is an infectious disease, (4) frequently using
same feeding and drinking equipments together with their children, (5) considering deciduous teeth are not important
because it will be replaced with permanent teeth anyway. It could be concluded that the prevalence of dental caries in
studied sample were high, these were relevant to the findings that the mother's knowledge and behaviors' towards dental
health were low. The results of this study demonstrated that mothers might have a high contribution in their child’s
caries risk. Prevention should be undertaken at an early age and actively including caregivers is essential in planning
and conducting any dental health interventions.
Perilaku Kesehatan Gigi Ibu dan Pengalaman Karies Gigi Ibu-Anak: Studi pada Kota Satelit di Indonesia.
Meskipun pentingnya melakukan survei epidemiologi untuk memantau kesehatan gigi terutama anak-anak prasekolah,
hanya sedikit publikasi yang telah diterbitkan mengenai hal tersebut. Tujuan studi ini adalah untuk mendeskripsi
pengalaman karies gigi pada anak-anak prasekolah dan ibunya serta untuk menggambarkan pengetahuan dan perilaku
ibu terhadap kesehatan gigi di daerah pinggiran kota dekat ibu kota Indonesia. Sampel terdiri atas 152 pasang ibu-anak
dengan usia anak kurang dari 5 tahun. Pemeriksaan intraoral dilakukan dengan panduan indeks gigi lubang-hilangtambal.
Selain itu, wawancara dilakukan untuk mendapatkan informasi mengenai perilaku dan penetahuan kesehatan
gigi ibu. 70% anak-anak telah menderita karies gigi dengan nilai dmf-t = 3,7, 100% diantaranya terdiri dari komponen
gigi berlubang. 90% ibu telah menderita karies dengan DMF-T = 7,8, 99% diantaranya terdiri dari komponen karies
gigi. Lebih dari 50% ibu-ibu memiliki pengetahuan dan perilaku rendah terhadap kesehatan gigi, dengan fakta yang
terungkap diantaranya: (1) tidak pernah memeriksa gigi anak-anak mereka, (2) mulai membersihkan gigi anak mereka
setelah usia anak lebih dari 1 tahun, (3) tidak mengetahui bahwa karies adalah penyakit menular, (4) sering
menggunakan peralatan makan dan minum yang sama dengan anak-anak mereka, (5) menganggap gigi sulung tidak
penting karena akan diganti dengan gigi tetap. Prevalensi karies gigi pada sampel yang telah dianalisa tinggi, hal ini
relevan dengan temuan bahwa pengetahuan dan perilaku ibu terhadap kesehatan gigi rendah. Hasil studi ini
menunjukkan bahwa ibu memiliki kontribusi terhadap risiko karies anak. Pencegahan karies gigi harus dilakukan pada
usia dini dan peran aktif Ibu sangat penting dalam perencanaan dan intervensi kesehatan gigi.
