oral health care behavior in a group of turkish children

background: the purpose of this study was to evaluate oral health attitude and behavior of a group of turkish children aged between 6-12 years. methods : a sample of 139 children attending marmara university dentistry school (muds) department of pediatrics den­tistry be­tween december 2002 to april 2003 was selected. results : the mean age for girls was 8.82 yr (sd=2.06) and for boys was 8.87 yr (sd= 2.04). the reported age of starting tooth brushing was 4.5. 11.5 % of children declared that they changed their brush once a year, 38.8 % twice a year and 25.9% three times a year. 52.5% of children declared that they learned the principles of tooth brushing and the use of dental care prod­ucts from the musd department of pediatrics dentistry dentists during their visits and 78% of those children have applied what they learned from them. conclusion : it is found necessary to educate mothers of tooth brushing; since the children mostly receive their first training from their mothers. besides, schools and kindergartens should provide oral hygiene instruction to parents and children.