A survey of the knowledge, attitude and practices of antenatal mothers in Lagos, Nigeria about the primary teeth.

To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of antenatal mothers about the primary dentition. This cross-sectional study was carried out in Lagos. It assessed the knowledge, attitude and practices of 464 Nigerian mothers about the primary teeth. All the mothers were seen at the antenatal clinics of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and primary health centres in the local government area of the teaching hospital. The mothers' knowledge of the 2 most commonly presenting oral conditions: bleeding gums and dental caries were evaluated. Results of the study showed that approximately 36.7% of the mothers had received information on oral health care from a dentist. About seventy percent (71.33%) reported that primary teeth were important and 79.31% agreed with the statement that tooth decay was preventable. However, only 8% of the mothers used toothbrush and toothpaste for cleaning their children's teeth. Only 37(7.97%) of the mothers had taken their children to a dentist before. The visits were for symptoms of pain and tooth decay. There was a statistically significant association between educational status and knowledge of primary teeth, (p=0.003308). Over half (51.3%) of the study sample associated caries with consumption of sugars. There was a statistically significant association between perceived aetiology of caries and educational status, p=0.00000. There was a statistically significant association between mother's past dental visit and child's past dental visit, p=0.000000005. The findings of the study show that oral health knowledge of the primary teeth by this group of Nigerian mothers is rather diffuse. It is recommended that medical professionals; obstetricians, gynaecologists and paediatricians encourage mothers to seek professional oral health counselling as soon as possible especially as soon as or before the primary teeth start to erupt. In addition, regular dental visits will ensure that the child benefits from age-specific information that is readily available to the mother.