EFFECT OF ORAL HEALTH EDUCATION ON MOTHERS KNOWLEDGE FOR ORAL HEALTH CARE OF CHILDREN IN ENUGU, NIGERIA

AIM: The study identified the effect of oral health education on mothers knowledge for oral health care for children. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 408 mothers who brought their children for immunization at a tertiary health care centre in Enugu, Nigeria. The association between the mother s age, level of education, and good knowledge of oral health care for children was assessed. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 17.0 (IBM, Chicago, IL, USA) and the effect of all significant factors was inferred at p 0.05. RESULTS: Only 167(36.0%) mothers had good knowledge on oral health care for children prior to oral health education. There was significant association between level of education (p=0.01) and mothers knowledge of oral health care for children. Mothers with secondary level of education had good knowledge of oral health care for children. After the study intervention, the proportion of mothers with good knowledge of oral health care for children increased by 40.8% when compared with the baseline (p 0.001). CONCLUSION: Oral health education significantly improved mothers knowledge of oral health care for children.