Oral health knowledge in parents of Saudi cerebral palsy children.

OBJECTIVE To determine oral health knowledge in parents of cerebral palsy (CP) children, and the parents` attitude to oral health of their CP children. METHODS A self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect the required information from the parents. One hundred and six parents, 73 (68.9%) mothers, and 33 (31.1%) fathers completed the questionnaire between April and June 2006 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. RESULTS All (100%) the parents thought that good oral health was important for maintaining optimum general health. Most (95.3%) of the parents believed that they can maintain good dental health in their CP children by supervising their children`s tooth brushing, reducing sugary food intake and making regular visits to a dentist. A significantly high (p=0.005) percentage of high education parents (96.8%) had heard of fluoride as compared with low education parents (79.5%). CONCLUSION The overall oral health knowledge and attitude of parents of CP children is satisfactory.