Oral Health Knowledge and Practices of Children in a Primary School in Turkey

In order to be more effective, oral health care should be given to the child population through systematic school-based public health educational and preventive programs. This aspect is a starting point for oral health promotion campaigns. In Turkey, schoolbased educational oral health programs have not been routinely implemented in primary schools yet. Whereas some developed and developing countries have educational oral health programs [1,2], some others do not have any [3,4]. In some countries, an association was found between increased knowledge and better oral health practice [5-7]. In Turkey, the most recent oral epidemiological study showed that the prevalence of dental caries was 61.1% at age 12 and 61.2% in children aged 15; DMFT was 1.9 ± 2.2 for 12 years and 2.3 ± 2.5 for 15 years. For both age groups, caries was similar for 12- and 15-year-olds in urban and rural areas and the high prevalence of decayed teeth (D) indicated the need for dental care. A local study also reported that the mean DMFS was negatively correlated with self-reported dental health determinants among Turkish school children [8]. Another study found the existence of a strong correlation between the oral health behaviours, socioeconomic and socio-demographic factors, and the oral health status of Turkish adolescents [9]. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and practices (KP) of schoolchildren towards oral hygiene and oral health using a self-administered closed ended questionnaire.