Effect of Mothers' Oral Health Knowledge and Behaviour on Dental Caries in Their Preschool Children

데이터마이닝을 이용한 유치치아우식증 관련요인 분석

In order to investigate correlation between mother's dental ca re for her children and their dental caries, this study was conducted wi th the dental examination record of 365 children who showed the same number of questionnaires with those examined for dental conditions and questionnaires written by mothers among children between three and six years of age and their mothers in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi province in June 2004 to estimate frequency and percentage of general properties of subjects and mother's oral health care behaviors for her children by research items, to carry out cross-tabulation analysis and correlation analysis following Chi-square distribution for the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth and oral health care behaviors, and to use decision tree analysis among data mining techniques for those factors associated with the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth, and drew the following conclusions. 1. For mother's oral health care behaviors and attitudes for her children, 225 mothers(61.6%) confirmed their children's teeth-brushing; 278(76.2%) used no fluorine; and 286(78.6%) observed their children's teeth, 322 mothers(88.2%) instructed their children in teeth-brushing while 268 (73.4%) provided dental care, 232 mothers(63.7%) treated their children's cavity; 290(79.4%) believed that their children had good dental conditions; and 294(80.5%) answered that they began to provide their children with dental care in deciduous teeth. 2. As for the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth and dental health care behaviors, there were statistically significant differences in employment, confirmation after teeth-brushing, teeth observation, instruction in time for teeth-brushing, use of fluorine, cavity treatment, time for dental care, and perception of dental conditions(p<0.05). 3. As for correlation between dental caries in deciduous teeth and oral health care behaviors, mothers who worked, who believed that their children didn't have good dental condition, and who thought that it was necessary to begin to provide dental care in permanent teeth were found to get their children to suffer from dental caries in deciduous teeth. Besides, those who failed to confirm teeth-brushing, who used no fluorine, and who failed to observe teeth and gave no instruction in time for teeth-brushing were shown to get their children to suffer from dental caries in deciduous teeth. 4. Variables to determine the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth were classified by cavity treatment, mother's employment, time for dental care, and observation of children's teeth. The first node to determine the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth was found to be cavity treatment; the next criteria for classification after cavity treatment were shown to be mother's employment and time for dental care. In case of children with no cavity, they were found to be mother's employment and teeth observation.