Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2026 Jun 11. doi: 10.1007/s40368-026-01240-9. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The present study aimed to assess parental knowledge of paediatric oral health among parents and guardians of children aged 2-12 years in Valencia, Spain, and to analyse its association with key sociodemographic variables.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 208 parents and guardians of children attending a university dental clinic in Spain. A validated self-administered 20-item questionnaire was used to evaluate oral health knowledge. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc tests were applied to compare mean knowledge scores across sociodemographic groups. The significance level was set at p < 0.05.
RESULTS: Parental education level was significantly associated with oral health knowledge. Parents with university education (17.01 ± 1.86) and vocational training (16.71 ± 2.09) scored higher than those with secondary school (15.78 ± 2.34), basic education (13.09 ± 2.77), or no education (13.30 ± 2.41). No significant difference was observed by gender (p = 0.394). Age group was also associated with knowledge (F(2,195) = 7.55, p = 0.001), with the highest scores observed among parents aged 41-50 years (17.45 ± 1.97).
CONCLUSIONS: Parental oral health knowledge was associated with educational attainment and age, while no gender differences were observed. These results suggest the value of developing targeted educational approaches for younger parents and those with lower education levels.
PMID:42277547 | DOI:10.1007/s40368-026-01240-9
