CONHECIMENTO DE SAÚDE BUCAL APRESENTADO POR MÃES SEGUNDO SEU NÍVEL DE ESCOLARIDADE.

The purpose of this study was to verify the knowledge of mothers about oral health according to their level of schooling. To this end, a questionnaire containing seven objective questions was applied. The sample group, which was chosen by convenience, comprised 368 mothers from the city of Araraquara, state of São Paulo, Brazil. The findings of the survey were analyzed by descriptive statistic and the different groups (level of schooling) were compared by the qui-square test. It was found that, regardless of their schooling, most of the mothers had breast-fed their children. With regard to the cariogenicity of mother's milk and to the transmissibility of dental caries, a important deficience was found. A tendency was also found among mothers with a higher level of schooling to be more knowledgeable about their children's oral hygiene (p<0.05) than les educated mothers. Most of the mothers indicated they believed only cow's milk can cause caries, and there was no consensus among them about the ideal time for a child's first visit to the dentist. The lower their educational level, the greater the percentage of mothers who had received no advise at all or who had received advice about the subject from a layperson. Hence, it was found that the amount of schooling a mother has can influence her attitude toward oral health, leading to the conclusion that mothers should be included in oral health orientation and prevention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]