Resumo

AFONSO, Bárbara Azevedo  e  CASTRO, Martha Chiabai Cupertino de. Evaluation of oral hygiene knowledge and parent motivation in a Brazilian public education institution. Arq. Odontol. [online]. 2014, vol.50, n.4, pp. 161-169. ISSN 1516-0939.

Aim: To describe the profile of the parents of students enrolled in a public education institution for children of 03-05 years of age and assess whether the application of informative lectures could in fact motivate the parents to improve their oral hygiene and healthy eating habits. Methods: A descriptive and cross-sectional method was applied using questionnaires and workshops as the core strategy for data collection. Results: This study's sample consisted predominantly of young adults, of which 80% had completed primary school. Women represented 77.8% of the participants, of which 84.4% had received information on how to brush their teeth prior to this study and 62.2% reported brushing their teeth three times a day, while 73.3 % resported having the habit of eating between meals. Upon assessing the lectures, it could be noted that the participants were motivated by the presentations, which, at least temporarily, helped them to correct some of their own oral hygiene habits but did not change their eating habits. Conclusion: Based on the results, it could be concluded that the parents did not have enough prior knowledge on how to prevent tooth decay, and these informative lectures served as a form of immediate motivation. The informative lectures must be associated with other forms of motivation so as to produce long-lasting changes in the individual's daily routine.

Palavras-chave : Dental caries.; Oral hygiene.; Motivation.; Health education; dental..