A systematic review of questionnaires used on oral health knowledge, attitude, ‎and practice in 12-year-olds

BACKGROUND AND AIM: National oral health knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) data among 12-year-old children need nation-wide programs to help promote oral health. In most countries, oral epidemiologic data are collected by self-administered structured questionnaires. The aim of this study was to undertake a systematic review of the existing literature about questionnaires used for analyzing the oral health knowledge, attitude, and behavior profile of the 12-year-old children.METHODS: The search was conducted in PubMed and Google Scholar search engines. The Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) search was performed applying singularly and by combining the following terms retrieved from the MeSH browser provided by MEDLINE: “Knowledge, awareness, attitude, practice, behavior, 12-year-old children, oral health.”RESULTS: Of 176 records found, 29 evaluated oral health KAP in 12-year-old children by structured questionnaires. The most important questions on knowledge (23 of 29 questionnaires) included some items which are focused on the importance of preserving natural teeth, effects of brushing, and sweets and soft drinks on the dentition. The most common questions on practice (28 questionnaires) were brushing activity and dental visits. The attitudes were evaluated by questions about fear of dental treatment, opinion about dentists and dental care (10 questionnaires).CONCLUSION: Considering differences in the available questionnaires showed that despite the importance of promotion of oral health by increasing knowledge, and improving attitudes and practice in 12-year-old children, more work is needed to form a standard questionnaire.