What do Parents Know About Space Maintainers

What do Parents Know About Space Maintainers: Its Relationship With Parents' Oral Health Literacy and Children's Oral Health

Space maintainers are frequently used to prevent malocclusion problems in early primary tooth loss. Oral health literacy is defined as the capacity of individuals to learn, understand and evaluate basic oral health information. It is considered that parents' awareness of space maintainers may be affected by various factors such as their demographic characteristics and oral health literacy. The aim was to evaluate the relationship between variables by determining parents' awareness of space maintainers and their oral health literacy.

This cross-sectional study included 600 children and their parents. The survey, which included questions about sociodemographic characteristics and space maintainer awareness, was administered to parents face to face. Then, parents' oral health literacy levels were measured with TREALD-30 and TREALD-30A scales.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients who did not require urgent treatment,
• Who did not use medication for psychiatric reasons,
• Who did not have any mental illness were included.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Those who did not meet the inclusion criteria were excluded from the study.