Hubungan tingkat pengetahuan dan perilaku ibu dalam merawat gigi anak terhadap kejadian karies anak di TK Titi Dharma Denpasar

ackground:School aged children in Indonesia have a high risk of caries due to dietary factors, the use of fluoride, bottle feeding and parent’s knowledge and behavior related to dental care of their children. Mother is the closest figure of a child, therefore their mouth care still depend on her. Aim: the aim of this research is to determined the relation between mother’s level of knowledge and behavior in dental care of their children to dental caries incident in TK Titi Dharma Denpasar. Method: this study is a cross-sectional analytic study on 46 mother and their children. Mothers were given questionnaires to know the level of knowledge and behavior in dental care of their children and the children’s oral cavity has examined to determine the caries index. Result: the result of this study shows that 67.39% mothers have a good knowledge and 65.22% mothers have a good behavior regarding to their children’s dental care. The population caries index in TK Titi Dharma Denpasar was 3.9 which is categorized as medium level of caries incidence. Conclusion: the conclusion of this research is there is a correlation between mother’s level of knowledge and behavior in taking care of their children’s teeth toward caries incident in TK Titi Dharma Denpasar.Keywords: knowledge, behavior, dental caries