94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral Health Promotion
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1530265
This article is part of the Research TopicImpact of Parental Education and Socio-Economic Status on Children's Oral Health BehaviorsView all 3 articles
Exploring parental opinions on oral hygiene behavior and knowledge of their young children in Lithuania: a cross-sectional survey study
Provisionally accepted- Kauno University of Applied Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: An appropriately formulated oral health education program carefully based on research, can increase knowledge, change behavior in a positive direction and improve self-confidence. This study aimed to examine parental opinions on their children's oral hygiene behavior (OHB) and oral health knowledge (OHK) among their pre-and primary school children in Kaunas, Lithuania.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, an online 33-question survey was conducted before and after World Oral Health Day on March 20 to assess the oral hygiene skills, eating habits, and demographics of their 5-12 year children. A total of 532 parents participated, with data from 420 parents, mainly married mothers (average age 37.3 years) being analyzed. Most participants had higher education, lived in Kaunas, and had one to three children, with an average age of 7 years for the oldest child.Results: Most participants used a manual toothbrush. The adapted OHB index showed that most parents generally had good control over their children's tooth brushing habits, with many brushing twice daily and using fluoride toothpaste. One-third of parents always re-brushed their child's teeth after the child brushed independently. Parents demonstrated strong knowledge of their children's oral health care, as reflected in high scores on the adapted OHK index. A positive correlation was found between OHB and OHK (r=0.14, p=0.05). Younger children were re-brushed more frequently, and higher parental OHK was linked to more frequent re-brushing, particularly for children less than 10 years, and parents with higher education had better OHK but did not demonstrate better OHB.Conclusions: The insights gained from parents into their children's OHB and OHK can help implement an evidence-based preventive approach to improve their children's oral hygiene practices.
Keywords: oral health promotion, Oral hygiene behavior, Oral health knowledge, Parents, preand primary school children, Lithuania Behavior sciences, Oral Hygiene Behavior Index, Oral Health Knowledge index
Received: 18 Nov 2024; Accepted: 09 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Buunk-Werkhoven, Tamulienė and Mačiulienė. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yvonne Andrea Bernadette Buunk-Werkhoven, Kauno University of Applied Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.