Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Parents Referred to Dental Clinics toward Importance of the Primary Teeth and Space Maintaining of them in City of Yazd in 2018

Introduction: Having regular permanent teeth is maintaining the regularity of the primary teeth. Parents play an important role in maintaining their teeth. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate of knowledge, attitude and performance of parents referred to dental clinics toward importance of the primary teeth and space maintaining of them in Yazd City in 2018. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 200 parents of children under 12 years of age, referred to dental clinics of selected for this research. Data were collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire that containing 38 questions in 4 scores. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16 and t-test, ANOVA, Post HOC and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: In this study, 200 parents of children under 12 years of age, 64 fathers (32%) and 136 mothers (68%) completed the research questionnaire. In this study, the mean score of parental knowledge was 13.5 ± 3.92 out of 40 points, the mean score of parental attitude was 38.99 ± 6.54 out of 80 points, the mean of parental performance was 9.26 ± 1.48 out of 20 points, and the mean score parental performance in the case of space maintaining was 12.58 ± 2. 08 out of 28 points. we understand parents had low knowledge, low attitude and poor performance regarding the importance of primary teeth and maintaining their space. Conclusion: Training parents about the importance of care of primary teeth, should be performed by dentist in health center.